

Class T'jS 1 6 S 


Book, J:J* ^- 


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FACTORY MANAGEMENT 
COURSE AND SERVICE 


A Series of Interlocking Text Books Written for the 
Industrial Extension Institute by Factory Man¬ 
agers and Consulting Engineers as Part 
of the Factory Management 
Course and Service 



INDUSTRIAL EXTENSION INSTITUTE 

INCORPORATED 

NEW YORK 







ADVISORY 

Nicholas Thiel Ficker, Pres., 
Pres. Ficker Recording Alch. 
Co. 

Charles E. Funk, Secy., 
Formerly Managing Editor, 
“Industrial Management .” 

Chas. A. Brockaway, Treas., 
Formerly Business Manager, 
The Engineering Magazine 
Co. 

Alwin von Auw, 

Qen. Mgr., Boorum-Pease Co. 

y?. R. Basset, 

Pres. Miller-Franklin-Basset 
Co., 


COUNCIL. 

Charles C. Goodrich, 

Goodrich-Lockhart Co. 

Jervis R. IIarbeck, 

Vice-Pres. American Can Co. 

Benj. A. Franklin, 

V-Prcs. Strathmore Paper Co. 
Major, Ordnance Dept., U.S.R. 

Willard F. Hine, 

Chief Gas Engr., Public Serv¬ 
ice Comm., N. Y. 

Irving A. Berndt, 

Mgr. Bettcrmetit Dept., Jos. T. 
Rycrson Co. 


Charles B. Going, 

Major, Ordnance Dept., U. S. R. 

Chairman Ex. Board, Soc. Industrial Engineers. 

STAFF AUTHORS. 

Willard L. Case, The Factory Buildings. 

Pres. Willard L. Case d Co., (Jons. 

Engrs. 

David Moffat Myers, The Power Plant. 

Griggs d Byers, Cons. Engr. 

Joseph W. Roe, .The Mechanical Equipment. 

A eronautical-Bcch. Engr., U. 8. A. 

Albert A. Dowd, Tools and Patterns. 

Consulting Engineer. 

William F. Hunt, Handling Material in Factories 

Consulting Industrial Engineer. 

C. E. Knoeppel, Organization and Administra¬ 

tes. C. E. Knoeppel d Co., Cons. TION. 

Engrs. 

Meyer Bloomfield, Labor and Compensation. 

Head of Industrial Service Dept., 

Emergency Fleet Corp. 

George S. Armstrong. Planning and Time-Studies. 

Consulting Industrial Engineer. 

H. B. Twyford. Purchasing and Storing. 

Purchasing Dept., Otis Elevator Co. 

Nicholas Thiel Ficker, Industrial Cost-Finding. 

Pres. Ficker Recording Bch. Co. 

Dwight T. Farnham, Executive Statistical Control. 

Cons. Industrial Engineer. 

Charles W. McKay. Valuing Industrial Propfjities. 

Appraisal Engr., BcBecn d Miller. 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


BY 


WILLARD L. CASE 


Consulting Engineer 


VOLUME 1 

FACTORY MANAGEMENT COURSE 


INDUSTRIAL EXTENSION INSTITUTE 

INCORPORATED 

NEW YORK 



Copyright, 1019. by 

INDUSTRIAL EXTENSION INSTITUTE 

INCORPORATED 





PREFACE 


Jf 

c 

} 

C 

o 

p These volumes on factory management would not be com¬ 
plete if they did not include extended studies of the physical 
constitution of the manufacturing plant; for the success of 
any industry is dependent upon more than proper schemes 
and methods of management. The factory is the organic 
unit—the concrete element—through which all efforts must 
be applied; it is the physical instrument through which and 
with which the operating organization must work, and the 
factory may be an instrument of great earning power—or it 
may be a lode stone on profits. 

The location of the plant, the layout and arrangement of 
the works, the design and construction of the buildings, the 
character of their equipments, and the facilities for processing 
and manufacture are, therefore, of great potential impor¬ 
tance; and there are just as sound scientific principles and 
practical methods underlying the development of these or¬ 
ganic elements as there are for their functional operation. 

This book, therefore, emphasizes the too little understood 
relationship between the physical plant and operating profits. 
It analyzes the scientific methods of planning the new plant, 
which not only recognize the importance of location, the value 
of proper layout and arrangement and the suitable character 
of buildings and equipments from the physical viewpoint, but 
which also appreciate the influence of effective operating 
methods and the personal power of the human element when 
working under those conditions that assist and augment one’s 
ability, willingness and capability to do work. It discusses 
and illustrates the application of these principles in several 


v 


vt 


PREFACE 


concrete instances and shows their worth in a very specific 
manner by detailed studies of some of the modern successful 

w 

developments. 

The design of factory buildings is treated exhaustively; the 
modern types and forms applicable to various industries are 
described in detail, and these are illustrated by many typical 
examples. Foundations, walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, 
stairs, and partitions of the most approved form are shown; 
and the most effective methods of heating, lighting, ventila¬ 
tion, plumbing, and fire protection, and the provision of serv¬ 
ice facilities for the plant workers, are described and illus¬ 
trated by the reproduction of typical installations as made in 
a number of plants. 

Later chapters bear upon the generally approved methods 
employed in carrying out the development of a proposed new 
plant. The relationships between the owners, engineers and 
contractors are clearly indicated and examples of forms of 
contracts between owners and engineers, and owners and con¬ 
tractors, are submitted in full. These are supplemented by 
detailed plans covering the construction of the plant build¬ 
ings and the installations of their main equipments. 

This book is designed to aid those who are vitally interested 
in industrial work,—particularly those executives or em¬ 
ployees who now are, or may become, directing forces in our 
manufacturing plants. It is based upon the writer’s personal 
observation, study and experience of many years of special¬ 
ization in the problems of our manufacturing industries, and 
it is hoped that the student may find it of real value in apply¬ 
ing its suggestions to the particular problems with which he 
is confronted. 


Willard L. Case. 


TABLE OF CONTEXTS 


CHAPTER I 

THE RELATION OF THE PLANT TO THE INDUSTRY 


PAGE 

The Purpose of Manufacture. 1 

Relation of Plants to Profits. 2 

Marketability of the Product .. 3 

Availability of Capital. 4 

' Organization and Administration . 5 

The Plant—Its Location. 6 

Arrangement and Character of Buildings .... 6 

The Manufacturing Equipment. 8 

Effectiveness of Operating Methods .10 

* Efficiency of Operators .12 

Importance of the Manufacturing Plant .... 14 

Basic Principles of Development .17 


CHAPTER II 

THE GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 


The Essential Problems.. . • . 19 

Developing from the Ideal Plant.20 

Statement of the Problem .21 

Investigation and Studies.22 

Factors to be Investigated .24 

Product and Output.25 

Character of the Product.25 

vii 


















vni 


TABLE OP CONTENTS 


PACE 

Cost of the Product.27 

Production or Output.28 

Detailed Schedules.30 

Manufacturing Processes.. , 32 

chapter m 

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE PLANT 

Manufacturing Machinery.37 

Special Requirements.41 

Auxiliary Manufacturing Equipment.42 

Design of Auxiliary Equipment.44 

Special Attention to Routing .44 

Special Requirements of Departments.46 

Special Ventilating and Lighting Requirements . . 48 

Stock and Tool Room Requirements.49 

Steam and Power Requirements.50 

Operators and Operating Control . v . 55 

Plant Arrangement and Site.59 

Factors as to Specific Location.62 

CHAPTER IV 

DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 

Knowledge and Skill Required.64 

Preliminary Information.65 

Preliminary Schemes .70 

Definite General Plans . 71 

Developing the General Scheme.72 

Routing Diagrams.. 

Elemental Examples. 74 

Small Parts Factory.. 



















) 


TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 

Lace Making Plant . 

PAGE 

Foundry and Machine Shop 

.79 

Foundry, Machine, and Plate Shop . 

.83 

Travel of Materials .... 

.83 

Features of Arrangement 

.85 

Power and Heating. 

.87 

Fruit Products Plant. 

.89 

Travel of Materials. 

.91 

Processing Operations .... 

.93 

Power, Steam and Hot Water . 

.94 

General Conveniences .... 

.'96 

CHAPTER V 

AN EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF 

DEVELOPMENT 

# 

Textile-Leather Making Plant 

..... 97 

The Development Proposed 

.97 

The Preliminary Scheme .... 

.99 

Selection of Plant Site .... 

. 100 

Developing the Arrangement . 

.103 

Production Schedules. 

.104 

Raw Materials. 

. . . . v . 105 

Processing Operations. 

.106 

The Final Arrangement .... 

.107 

The Cloth Treating Plant .... 

.108 

Napping Department. 

.109 

The Dyeing Processes. 

.Ill 

Finishing the Cloth . 

.113 

The Chemical Plant. 

.113 

Storage and Handling Systems 

.115 

Processing and Delivering 

.115 

The Main Manufacturing Plant . 

.118 

Processing Methods and Equipments 

.118 

Finishing and Shipping .... 

.121 




















X 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Power Plant. 

. . 122 

The Steam and Power Scheme 

.124 

Power Plant Operating Methods . 

.126 

Paths of Travel About Plant 

.127 

Operating and Service Facilities 

.129 

The General Offices .... 

.130 

Provision for Extension 

.132 


CHAPTER VI 


A REPORT ON PLANT RECONSTRUCTION AND 

EXTENSION 


Necessities for Plant Development 
The Director’s Viewpoint .... 
Investigation Decided Upon 

The Present Plant. 

Operating Conditions of Present Plant 
Conclusions as to Present Plant . 

The Proposed Reconstructed Plant 

General Description. 

Types of Buildings. 

Construction Feature. 

Service Facilities. 

Heating, Ventilating, and Lighting . 
Water Supply and Fire Protection 

Yard Paving. 

Handling Materials. 

Storage Facilities. 

The Lumber Yard. 

Arrangement of Buildings .... 
Routing of Materials and Work . 

Control of Operations. 

Cost of the Proposed Reconstruction 
Time Required for Work .... 


133 

133 

134 

135 
138 

140 

141 

142 
14(5 
147 

149 

150 
161 

151 

151 

152 
152 

154 

155 
15G 

158 

159 




























TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

Result of the Report.161 

Arrangement of New Plant.162 

Handling Incoming Materials.164 

Routing of Work in Process.167 

Type of Buildings.170 

chapter vn 

A DISCUSSION OF RECONSTRUCTION VERSUS 

NEW PLANT 

Factors Underlying Development.176 

Preliminary Steps.176 

Definite Action Required.178 

The Investigation and Report .180 

The Report.180 

New Plant on New Site Recommended.181 

Possibilities and Limitations of Present Property . . 182 

Site, Arrangement, Type and Advantages of Recom¬ 
mended New Plant. 185 

Operating Economies of New Plant.188 

Unit System of Developing New Plant.189 

Reconstruction vs. New Plant.190 

Detailed Report on the Present Plant.191 

Production and Output.191 

Extent of Plant.192 

Condition of Buildings.192 

Probable Cost of Additional Property.193 

Details on Arrangement.193 

Floor Areas by Departments.194 

Extent of Machinery and Equipment.197 

Power Plant Equipment.197 

Details on Possibilities of Present Property .... 199 

Possible Alterations.203 

Floor Space Provided. 204 






























TABLE OF CONTENTS 


• • 

XU 

PAGE 

Routing and Handling of Product.206 

Additional Manufacturing Machinery.208 

Power and Steam Requirements.208 

Cost of Possible Development.210 

Method of Development.211 

Practicability of a Partial Development.212 

Details of New Plant on New Site.214 

Location and Extent of Site.214 

General Arrangement of New Plant.218 

Type of Construction Recommended.221 

Routing of Work in Process.226 

Additional Machines Required.241 

Power Requirements.245 

Estimated Cost of New Plant.246 

Practicability of Partial New Development .... 247 

CHAPTER VIII 

GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 

Importance of Proper Design.251 

Evolution of the Modern Building.252 

The Development of Types.252 

Typical Forms of Buildings.254 

Construction Materials.255 

Architectural Characteristics.257 

Engineering Treatment.258 

Architectural Treatment.258 

A Discussion of Types.263 

The One-Story Building.264 

The General Utility Type.267 

Concrete Building—Twenty Feet Wide.267 

Brick and Steel—Thirty Feet Wide .270 

Brick and Timber—Forty Feet Wide.272 



















TABLE OP CONTENTS xiii 

PAGE 

Brick and Steel—Fifty Feet Wide.273 

Brick and Steel—Sixty Feet Wide.274 

Brick with Steel Columns.275 

Brick, Timber Columns and Beams.276 

All-Concrete Construction.278 

Saw-Tooth Roof Buildings.279 

Machine Shop or General Manufacturing Type . . . 286 

Improved Monitor Design.288 

The Modern Type.290 

Heavy Machine and Erecting Shops.291 

CHAPTER IX 

FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 

Foundries and Forge Shops.294 

Development of Modern Type.295 

Illustration of Modern Type.299 

Application to Small Foundry.300 

Multi-Story Factory Buildings.304 

Types of Construction.305 

Slow-Burning Mill Construction.308 

What Mill Construction Is Not.309 

Disadvantages of Slow-Burning Construction . . . 310 

Examples of ‘‘Standard” Type.311 

Wide Column-Spacing Type . . . •.313 

Brick and Steel Type.316 

Brick and Steel—Fire Proofed.317 

Brick and Steel Machine Shop.. . . 319 

Reinforced Concrete Construction.325 

Its Advantages and Disadvantages.326 

Types of Construction.329 

The Beam and Girder Type.329 

The Flat-Slab Type.333 

Example of “Flat-Slab” Construction.333 

A Five-Story Textile Building.337 



















Xiv 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


CHAPTER X 

SPECIAL BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURAL 


TREATMENT 

PAGE 

Variety of Form and Use . 341 

A Modem Dye House.341 

A Water Purifying Plant.343 

A Transformer Station.347 

“Standard” Auxiliary Buildings.349 

Factory Office Building.353 

A Cordage Plant Office Building.355 

A Reinforced Concrete Office Building.359 

Factory Power Plant Buildings.362 

A Typical Small Power Plant.362 

A Typical Large Power Plant.364 

Views of Representative Buildings.376 

The Element of Simplicity.377 

A Plain, One-Story Building.378 

Symmetrical Saw-Tooth Building.379 

Two Well-Proportioned Machine Shops.380 

Harmonious Settings.383 

Ornamental Treatment.385 

Colonial Design.387 

Treatment for Residential Location.388 

Treatment for City Location.389 

Brick-Veneered Concrete Buildings.391 


Examples of Excellent Architectural Treatment . . 394 


CHAPTER XI 

BUILDING DETAILS AND EQUIPMENTS 

Building Details .. 

Building Foundations. 

Superstructure Walls. 

Factory Floors. 

Roofs and Roof Covering. 


399 

4n<) 

402 

Id.') 

409 
























TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 

PAGE 

Windows, Skylights and Ventilators.414 

Factory Boors.422 

Stairways and Elevator Shafts.431 

Factory Partitions.438 

Natural Lighting.439 

Artificial Lighting.442 

Systems of Lighting.444 

Types of Lighting Units.448 

Factory Heating.453 

Systems of Heating.454 

Direct, Vacuum-Return Heating System.457 

Indirect Fan System.458 

Factory Sanitation.463 

Drinking Water.463 

Wash and Locker Room.464 

Toilet Rooms.466 

Other Service Facilities.469 

Factory Fire Protection.471 

Miscellaneous Equipments.475 

chapter xn 

PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 

Work Involved.475 

Contract Between Owner and Engineer.477 

Form of Contract Between Owner and Engineer . . 480 

Cost of Engineering Services.484 

Contract Between Owner and Contractor.487 

Form of Contract Between Owner and Contractor . . 489 

Building Plans and Specifications.510 

Building Equipment Plans and Specifications ... 511 

Plumbing Plans and Specifications.514 

Fire Protection Plans and Specifications.515 

Heating Plans and Specifications.519 

Power and Lighting Systems—Plans and Specifications 520 




























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THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


CHAPTER I 

THE RELATION OF THE PLANT TO THE 

INDUSTRY 

The Purpose of Manufacture. —The function of in¬ 
dustrial plants, speaking broadly and as it is pro¬ 
posed to consider them in this work, is the manu¬ 
facture of useful commodities involving the conver¬ 
sion of materials from one form to another. 

Inasmuch as the real purpose of every in¬ 
dustry is direct financial gain, the one great and 
primary object of a manufacturing organization is to 
produce a commodity at the lowest cost consistent 
with a desired or necessary quality. Accordingly the 
measure of industrial success is determined by the 
profits of an industry; and the degree of success at¬ 
tained corresponds to the “rate of return” on the 
funds invested or employed in its operation. 

The manufacturing plant is the physical instru¬ 
ment through which all the efforts of an industrial 
enterprise—capital, organization, and labor—must be 
applied; and so, in practically every industry, the 
physical plant must have a very great influence on 
operating results. Oftentimes this effect is so pro¬ 
nounced that it proves to be the determining factor 
in the success or failure of the industry. 



2 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Relation of Plant to Profits.—The importance of 
the relation of the manufacturing plant to the pos¬ 
sible profits or success of the business of which it is 
a part, may be emphasized by a brief analysis of the 
clearly-defined factors governing such success: 

1. Marketability of the product; 

2. Availability of sufficient capital; 

3. Capability of the executive organization; 

4. Suitableness of the location, arrangement and 
character of the manufacturing plant; 

5. Adaptability of the manufacturing ma¬ 
chinery and auxiliary equipment; 

6. Effectiveness of operating methods; 

7. Efficiency of the operators. 

It is quite apparent that while all these factors 
always are present and must be considered in the 
operations of any industrial enterprise, yet their rela¬ 
tive importance will vary in individual cases and 
they may not always rank in the order as given 
above. Nevertheless, all have a very closely inter¬ 
related influence, and no single one can be neglected 
without risk of loss; for the weakness of any of these 
elements usually has an unfortunate direct effect 
upon the general operating results. Furthermore, 
each of the factors mentioned will react sympathetic¬ 
ally upon the others for good or for ill. Therefore, a 
proper harmony of all these factors will make for 
more efficient operation and increased returns; while 
from a failure in one or more respects to reach a 
reasonable standard, an aggregation of losses and re¬ 
duced profits are bound to follow. 


PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


3 


Marketability of the Product. —The first considera¬ 
tions in any industry are, that a demand exists for 
the product, and that the product can be sold to ad¬ 
vantage and profit. If the product of an industry is, 
or becomes, an unmarketable commodity, it is at once 
obvious that success cannot be attained or even re¬ 
tained; and this important factor must figure no 
less in any consideration of the physical plant than 
in the actual industry itself. 

Whether the demand is too limited for the product, 
or the market too narrow for an article of its par¬ 
ticular character; or whether its quality, design, fin¬ 
ish, or price fails to meet the general demand, are 
questions of fundamental business policy that should 
be decided preliminary to any proposed industrial 
development. For no plant, however efficient, can be 
operated successfully in the face of such adverse 
conditions. 

It may be that on the other hand an appreciable 
market cannot be found for an article of merit, or an 
existing market may decline; and other external and 
unfavorable circumstances may develop which would 
preclude any possibility of profitable manufacture. 

All such considerations, however, are primary 
and basic, underlying the entire industry. They are 
not dependent upon the plant; but the plant, its 
organization and its operation is dependent upon 
them, and, therefore, these underlying conditions and 
facts must be thoroughly understood by those respon¬ 
sible for the design, construction, equipment, and 
operation of the manufacturing plant, if the opera¬ 
tions thereof are to be successful. 


4 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Availability of Capital.—The place of capital in the 
industrial organization is so important that it is es¬ 
sential it be appreciated and its relation to the plant 
itself fully realized. Often much of the available 
capital in a manufacturing enterprise is represented 
by the physical plant. There should be, always, suffi¬ 
cient capital to provide an installation adequate to 
deal with the present or future needs of an industry 
without sacrificing the cash funds required in its 
operations. 

Business and financial statistics—as well as com¬ 
mon knowledge and experience—furnish a never- 
ending record of failures due to lack of sufficient cap¬ 
ital. While it is true that many of the present-day 
industries that have attained a vast success are the 
outgrowth of “simple beginnings” and were devel¬ 
oped with a most meagre capital, yet it is also true 
that the success attained was not on account of in¬ 
efficient resources but in spite of such hampering 
influence; and it was only made possible by prodigal¬ 
ity of sacrifice, unceasing labor, hardship, and worry. 

Lack of capital cannot but retard the development 
and success of any enterprise. It has a strangling 
effect upon the abilities and capacities of any executive 
organization. Its influence prevents the utilization of 
adequate, and often necessary, manufacturing facili¬ 
ties; and the lack of such facilities prevents the ap¬ 
plication of effective operating methods and mini¬ 
mizes the efficiency of the operators. In the design 
and construction of the plant the question of the cap¬ 
ital available for the enterprise must always be con¬ 
sidered, so that there may be a symmetrical and pro- 



PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


5 


portional development throughout the business. No 
other one thing presents greater difficulties in the way 
of operation than a manufacturing plant inadequately 
financed. 

Organization and Administration.—Those who have 
occupied positions of control-of-production in most of 
the larger industrial organizations have learned long 
since the importance and influence of a capable execu¬ 
tive organization under scientific administration. This 
subject, now emphasized in all modern industrial 
literature, has passed entirely out of the vague realms 
of theory and idealism and has become a matter of 
settled practice, whereby well known principles are 
applied to and definite lines of development are 
worked out for individual industries. Indeed, it is 
only efficient systems of organization and control that 
have made possible the great growth of individual 
establishments and the enormous properties of mod¬ 
ern industries. 

Scientific organization and administration involves 
a practical and consistent scheme of management, the 
development and application of effective operating 
methods, and incessant effort in increasing the effi¬ 
ciency of the operators. 

It is hardly too much to say that such scientific 
organization and administration is the very founda¬ 
tion of modern industrial growth. Accordingly, if 
such a general statement is true, then it follows that 
in each industry and each industrial establishment, 
the general element of success and the real key of 
its well-being must lie in an efficient organization 
under able administration. Assuming then, able ad- 


6 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ministrators provided with a capable executive 
organization and well conceived plans of efficient 
management, the best results in the enterprise can 
be secured only by providing for them adequate and 
efficient manufacturing plants. Too often good men 
and good organizations have been almost hoplessly 
handicapped by the limitations of the material con¬ 
ditions under which they have had to work in their 
plants. 

The Plant—Its Location.—Very often an industrial 
enterprise flourishes in spite of an unfavorable loca¬ 
tion, but the present-day importance of suitable loca¬ 
tion is obvious. Changing conditions and plant 
growth are ever demanding a wider and more varied 
labor market, better shipping facilities, easier and 
nearer access to the raw materials or the consumer’s 
market, a larger property for plant development, or 
relief from hampering local requirements or unduly 
burdensome taxation. 

These necessities are of great importance and must 
be thoroughly investigated in determining whether 
a plant is rightly or wrongly located. In the case 
of a new enterprise or when a change or rehabilita¬ 
tion is contemplated, the location of the plant should 
receive early attention; particularly in its relation 
to the distribution of both raw materials and finished 
product, possible transportation facilities and the 
availability of labor, not only in the immediate in- 
stance but under permanent operation. 

Arrangement and Character of Buildings.—Manu¬ 
facturers at one time held that the essential purpose 
of factory buildings was solely the housing of the 


PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


7 


business in the easiest way, affording the shelter and 
protection necessary to uninterrupted operations. As 
a result of this narrow-minded tradition, many manu¬ 
facturing plants are so unfortunately laid out that 
the arrangement of their several operating depart¬ 
ments and the faulty grouping of the plant buildings, 
as a whole, has inevitably imposed almost prohibitive 
operating burdens, with production at comparatively 
low capacity and overhead expense out of all propor¬ 
tion to output. 

Often the character of the buildings is radically 
opposed to the requirements of the business for which 
they are used. They are so designed as to make it 
impracticable, if not impossible, to establish, in a 
plant so housed, conditions at all favorable to eco¬ 
nomical manufacture—affording, as they do, inade¬ 
quate lighting, poor ventilating and unsanitary condi¬ 
tions, and offering no facilities or conveniences for 
the work of the plant or the comfort and efficiency 
of the operators. 

It is now, however, an accepted principle, that an 
industry crammed into poorly arranged, improperly 
designed, and inadequately equipped buildings cannot 
be operated efficiently, and that the great purpose 
of the buildings—one of the most important elements 
of the plant—is to conduce in every way to the profits 
of manufacture. 

This changed viewpoint demands that the buildings 
be planned and designed in every important detail 
for the particular business they serve. It has been 
thoroughly demonstrated that scientifically planned 
buildings, well designed and of substantial construe- 


8 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tion, with provision for an arrangement of machinery 
and departments that afford adequate working space, 
with provision for the direct routing and proper 
handling of materials in process, and for the effective 
development of operating processes and complete and 
ready control of the various departments, individ¬ 
ually and as a combined unit, have a most marked 
and augmentative effect upon the plant profits. 

Furthermore such a viewpoint demands the modern 
appliances so necessary to the efficiency of the plant 
operators. The earning power of adequate natural 
and artificial lighting, comfortable heating, healthful 
ventilation, sanitary conveniences, safety appliances, 
and other aids affecting the employees’ conservation 
of health and energy and the maintenance of a spirit 
of cheerful willingness of endeavor, has been demon¬ 
strated time and again. 

In every industry the arrangement of the plant and 
the type and character of the plant buildings and 
their facilities are major elements of pronounced in¬ 
fluence extending to practically every phase of eco¬ 
nomic operation. Their effect upon possible profits is 
so evidenced that every industrial manager, as a mat¬ 
ter of justice to himself, if not to the plant owners, 
must make them a matter of scientific study in con¬ 
sidering any rehabilitation of an existing property, 
or the establishment of an entirely new plant. 

The Manufacturing Equipment.—In the majority 
of industrial plants, perhaps no subject has had more 
attention than the manufacturing equipment, particu¬ 
larly the manufacturing machines. The policy of 
having plenty of equipment and having it up-to-date 


PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


9 


was readily established, because manufacturers could 
so easily determine and actually see and measure 
the output of any individual machine or apparatus. 
It was furthered by the action of competitors in in¬ 
stalling improved machinery, and was greatly aug¬ 
mented by the persistent efforts of the machinery 
manufacturers. 

In many instances this policy has been carried to 
an extreme; it has led to premature scrapping of still 
valuable equipment, and to too much and too over¬ 
large and over-expensive machinery, resulting in 
costly idle-equipment time and excessive equipment 
burdens. 

In certain industries and in many individual plants, 
however, too little attention has been given this im¬ 
portant subject. The machinery remains in the same 
crude, cumbersome, and inefficient state of its first 
and early development. Again it often occurs that 
modern machinery, thoroughly efficient in itself, is 
limited in earning capacity because of the lack of 
auxiliary equipment and service, apparent inability 
to so regulate the work as to operate it to the limit 
of its production, and to the almost total absence of 
proper inspection, care, and maintenance. 

A cardinal principle of all industrial operations is 
the reduction to the very minimum of time consumed, 
space traversed, and effort expended. This is tanta¬ 
mount to a demand that the manufacturing ma¬ 
chinery must be adapted to perform its functions 
with a maximum efficiency; that it must be properly 
located and ready for service when wanted; that it 
be operated by skilled hands and as continuously as 


10 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


possible; that a full complement of auxiliary equip¬ 
ment, or other means,, for the handling and transfer 
of materials must be installed, and that every facility 
be provided for easing the fatigue and increasing the 
efficiency of the operators. 

The adaptability of the manufacturing machinery 
and auxiliary equipment to the requirements of the 
manufacturing operations and processes of the plant 
is of very great importance, for upon it directly de¬ 
pends, in very large measure, the economies and 
benefits of maximum production and minimum oper¬ 
ating costs. Indirectly it affects the possible econo¬ 
mies of every phase of plant operation. 

Effectiveness of Operating Methods.—The great 
value of scientific administration in an industry is 
the development and application of effective operat¬ 
ing methods, not only in the processes of direct 
manufacture, but in all the auxiliary and attendant 
work, from the purchase and receipt of incoming 
raw materials to the determination of the costs and 
the shipment of the finished product. 

Many able administrators have accomplished won¬ 
derful results by the application of such methods in 
plants very poorly adapted, in any economic sense, 
to the requirements and demands of the business 
of which they are a part. But how much greater 
their accomplishments would have been had the 
plants been fitted to the industry, instead of forcing 
the industry to fit the plant! 

Perhaps no one appreciates more keenly than does 
the Chief Executive or the Works Manager what a 
great influence the physical plant has upon operating 


PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


11 


methods, because so often the proven effective 
methods which ought to be applied must be so modi¬ 
fied to fit the limiting conditions of the plant that 
they become cumbersome and costly in application— 
at times, almost devitalized. 

It not infrequently happens that the purchasing 
department is restricted in its possibilities, because 
the plant lacks any facilities for the central and well- 
ordered stores department necessary for the main¬ 
tenance of those inventory methods that give due 
warning of when, what, and how much to buy, so 
that important purchases are made too hurriedly and 
with a sacrifice of cost to immediately delivery. 
Again the lack of sufficient raw stock storage, except¬ 
ing at almost prohibitive handling and rehandling 
charges, not infrequently limits the possibility of 
quantity purchases and deliveries and the advantages 
of their lower prices. 

Many manufacturing plants spend thousands of 
dollars yearly in the handling and transportation of 
materials that might well be and could be saved by 
the use of some of the modern methods of mechan¬ 
ically handling materials, provided the layout of the 
plant were suitable or could be rearranged for their 
installation. This is true not only of incoming and 
outgoing shipments, but more often and in a more 
marked degree of departmental routing and inter¬ 
departmental transfer. 

Plant arrangement, both departmentally and as 
a unit, has a great effect upon the routing, produc¬ 
tion, and cost of the work in process. In many in¬ 
stances where the plant has been designed or re- 


12 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


arranged to afford the application of modern methods 
of direct routing of work, “straight-line” travel, and 
continuous processing and assembling, the results 
have shown enormous increases in production and 
equally marked decreases in manufacturing costs. It 
is generally conceded by the manufacturers of today 
that no industrial plant can long operate successfully 
unless it lavs down and works on the basis of a 

w 

practical schedule of production and possesses a full 
knowledge of its production costs. 

The location, arrangement, and division of the sev¬ 
eral manufacturing departments of the plant and 
their physical relation to each other and the plant 
as a unit, have much to do with the possible appli¬ 
cation and effectiveness of modern and practical plan¬ 
ning and dispatching methods, with the following 
through of the product in all its operations without 
costly delay, and with the determination of process 
and departmental costs as well as the control and 
regulation of such costs. 

The efficient plant must be designed not only with 
the view of affording means for the greatest possible 
production from machines, processes, and employees, 
but must provide as well for the application of effec¬ 
tive operating methods and the ready control of 
every phase of plant work. 

Efficiency of Operators.—The most carefully de¬ 
signed and best constructed plant in the world, 
equipped with the most modern manufacturing ma¬ 
chinery and with a highly capable operating staff 
skilfully organized, can never succeed if the plant 
operatives are inefficient. No matter how scientific- 



PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


13 


ally or capably the production schedule of the work is 
planned, or to what extent operating methods have 
been perfected, inefficiency of the workers w T ill more 
than outweigh them. 

The efficiency of the operators as a collective 
organization inevitably corresponds to the degree of 
efficiency attained by the individual, and the effi¬ 
ciency of the individual depends, not only upon his 
capabilities for work, but also upon his ability and 
willingness to work. 

Individual capabilities for work are as a rule com¬ 
mensurate with the keenness of perception and in¬ 
tellect as developed by education and experience. 
The actual ability to do work varies with the degree, 
and depends upon the extent, to which the workman 
can apply his intellectual attainments, either in direct 
hand labor or in the operation of power-driven ma¬ 
chinery or other extraneously operated processes. 

Willingness to work depends upon the state of 
mind of the individual, and this is governed directly 
or in great measure, by conditions which those in 
charge of an industry can control. 

The wages and treatment received are naturally 
governing considerations, but there are many indirect 
influences which strangely affect the physical welfare, 
comfort and state of mind of the workmen. It will be 
found that where buildings are well arranged with 
good natural, and correct artificial lighting, proper 
ventilation, comfortable temperature, not over-crowd¬ 
ed machinery, and where safety-protective devices, 
ample bench or other working space, proper floors, 
and mechanical means for handling materials and 


14 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


eliminating unnecessary hand labor are provided, 
there will be increased output per individual opera¬ 
tive. Where good elevator service, sanitary wash and 
toilet rooms, cool drinking water, convenient lockers, 
and general cleanliness and good order are present, 
there will be a happy, contented, and more than an 
ordinarily efficient organization of workmen. Where 
such conditions do not pertain, inefficiency and discon¬ 
tent are inevitable. 

Importance of the Manufacturing Plant.—Apprecia¬ 
tion of the effect of the physical plant upon the effi¬ 
cient operation of any manufacturing industry may 
be emphasized by a graphic statement of just what 
efficient plant operation depends upon, thus, 


PROPER ADMINISTRATIVE 
* CONTROL;DEPENDENT UPON 



Adaptability of Plant to and Facilities 
for such Control 


, EFFICIENCY OF OPERATORS;! 
c ' DEPENDENT UPON 


ABILITY acify 

TO WORK uipment 



Proper Direction 


EFFICIENT 
PLANT OPERA* 
TION DEPEND¬ 
ENT UPON 


WILLINGNESS 
TO WORK 



Good Physicol Conditions' 
Proper Dtrectton 





RELATION OF PHYSICAL PLANT TO EFFICIENT PLANT OPERATION. 










PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


15 


The real relation that the manufacturing plant 
bears to the success of a business is being in¬ 
creasingly realized and appreciated by industrial 
managers everywhere. Accordingly, in their efforts 
to maintain their business on a profitable basis by 
keeping pace with the growing demand for manu¬ 
factured products and the competition of open mar¬ 
kets, executives these days are giving unusual thought 
to the manufacturing plant and its economic possi¬ 
bilities. 

Every industrial property has this problem in ever 
varying phase, but in every instance it is reducible in 
its last analysis to just two demands—increased pro¬ 
duction and reduced operating costs. 

The more progressive works managers have this 
in mind continually and consistently, and they are 
making or having made through their own or other 
experienced, responsible engineering organizations, 
the thorough exhaustive and scientific studies neces¬ 
sary to determine the most practical and sound means 
and methods of meeting their own particular needs 
and demands. 

There are occasionally instances in which these 
studies demonstrate very clearly that minor physical 
changes with more or less drastic reforms in organ¬ 
ization and operating methods can bring about the 
necessary and desired increased production and re¬ 
duced operating costs. More often, however, these 
studies indicate that minor changes and reforms, 
while undoubtedly helpful, would prove totally inade¬ 
quate; and when this is the case one of the following 
three radical measures must be adopted: 


16 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


1. The rehabilitation and rearrangement of 

the present plant, 

2. Enlarging the present plant and rehabilitat¬ 

ing and rearranging the whole plant, 

3. Building an entirely new and modern plant 

in a most favorable location. 

The first method—namely, to rehabilitate and re¬ 
arrange, or revamp the present plant with its equip¬ 
ment facilities and operating methods—aims to secure 
a maximum plant efficiency without adding materially 
to the investment. It is, in many instances, the most 
practical method to be recommended, particularly 
where no great immediate increase of returns to 
cover a large additional investment can be foreseen. 

The second method—to enlarge the present plant 
and effect its entire rearrangement and rehabilita¬ 
tion on the basis of providing all the possible facili¬ 
ties of a modern plant—is usually adopted where the 
present plant is inadequate to meet the increased 
volume of production demanded, is unadapted to the 
requirements of scientific organization and operating 
methods, and'when sufficient capital is available or 
can be obtained therefor upon reasonable evidence 
of increased returns from the business as a result 
of the proposed developments. 

Finally, the third method—where an entirely new 
and modern plant is to be built in the most favor¬ 
able location—represents the highest development of 
the industry and its earning possibilities. It is to 
be recommended when the executives and directors 
believe the business has an assured and brilliant 


PLANT RELATIONSHIP TO INDUSTRY 


17 


future, and when they are prepared to invest therein 
the necessary capital. 

In such a plan the layout and general arrange¬ 
ment would provide, not only for immediate demands, 
but also for future requirements. The buildings 
would be adapted in every way to the nature of the 
particular business they would serve. Naturally such 
a plant would be equipped with mechanical ap¬ 
pliances for the transfer and handling of materials 
throughout the plant and its various operations, and 
would have every physical facility for the applica¬ 
tion of the most approved processes and efficient 
operating methods. The machinery and other manu¬ 
facturing equipments and appliances installed would 
be scientifically and practically adapted to the de¬ 
sired production. The buildings would he well 
lighted, properly heated and ventilated, and equipped 
with the necessary sanitary and other conveniences 
for the employees—all with the aim and for the pur¬ 
pose of securing the fullest human and mechanical 
efficiency. 

Basic Principles of Development.—Any develop¬ 
ment of a manufacturing plant along these lines, if it 
is to be sound, practical, and worthy, must be based 
upon, first, a thorough understanding of the require¬ 
ments of the business and of all the conditions affect¬ 
ing directly or by indirect influences the economic 
possibilities of the plant’s operations; and secondly, 
upon a thorough knowledge of the principles govern¬ 
ing industrial plant development. 

Each industrial plant is peculiar to itself as re¬ 
gards its work and problems, but whether it demands 


18 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


only minor physical changes with organization and 
operating reforms, or complete rehabilitation or ex¬ 
tension, or an entirely new plant, there are general 
principles which govern plant location, arrangement 
and type of buildings, building equipments, manufac¬ 
turing equipments, plant facilities, and general operat¬ 
ing methods that apply universally and are essential 
to true economy. 

Accordingly, if these principles are understood, the 
industrial executive may apply them to the needs of 
his own plant and the special conditions under which 
he labors, thereby determining, in conjunction with 
the knowledge of his requirements, the most prac¬ 
tical method of plant development for the business 
in question. 

In the following chapters, therefore, it is proposed 
to discuss the general principles governing the loca¬ 
tion, arrangement, design, equipment, and operating 
facilities of manufacturing plants as applicable to 
industries in general. The methods described and 
suggested are typical and represent the best modern 
practice as developed and substantiated by their 
proved worth in successful industrial plants of the 
United States, 



CHAPTER II 


THE GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 

The Essential Problems. —Let it he remembered 
that every development of an existing plant is based 
upon the needs of increased production and reduced 
manufacturing costs; and that the same purpose—ul¬ 
timate profits—underlies the establishment of any 
new project or business. Then, in every instance 
of plant development, the sought for end is a modern 
plant best adapted in every essential to the economic 
production of the article or articles to be manufac¬ 
tured. 

This is true whether it is desired to rehabilitate 
the plant of an established business, in whole or in 
part, with perhaps an appreciable extension of the 
existing plant; or to establish it in a new plant on 
its present or a new site with enlarged facilities and 
provision for future expansion, or when it is pro¬ 
posed to establish an entirely new business in a new 
plant with provision for plant expansion as the future 
growth of the business may demand. 

In every such development, no matter in which one 
of these three ways the problem is presented, the 
general and fundamental principles of all are the 
same. The end sought can be attained only when 
the owners or their engineers have set up at the out¬ 
set an 4 ‘ideal’’ plant for the industry in question, 

19 



20 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


and have clearly visualized its final development 
modified by the necessities of their own peculiar 
requirements or limitations. 

Developing* from the Ideal Plant.—The ‘ 4 ideal'’ 
plant and ideal conditions of operation are the real 
purpose, and should be consistently considered the 
one important logical aim of every plant develop¬ 
ment. It is indeed no waste of time or energy, there¬ 
fore, to set up and contemplate such an ‘ ‘ideal ” 
plant even though the resources of the corporation 
or industry will not permit of its full realization or 
even more than an appreciable approach thereto. 
Unless such an “ideal” plant is conceived and ap¬ 
preciated, which involves the creation of a clear and 
definite conception of just what kind of plant in all 
its essentials is best adapted to the particular busi¬ 
ness in question, efforts at development will fall into 
grievous and costly errors. 

Such a visualization, however, must not be limited 
to an imitation of the plants of this or that com¬ 
pany or corporation as they stand; but it should 
embody the best of these and other plants, particu¬ 
larly their advanced and improved equipments, oper¬ 
ating facilities, and methods, in combination with an 
original and definite vision of what is best adapted to 
the special requirements of the particular plant or 
business in question. Imitation within certain limits 
—that is, the intelligent consideration of trade cus¬ 
toms and ways and means which bear directly or in 
modified form on the problem in hand—is commend¬ 
able; but too often there is a tendency to imitate in¬ 
discriminately, with an unhappy result. 


GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 21 


Statement of the Problem.—The conception and 
formulation of any such complete scheme presup¬ 
poses and demands an exhaustive study of the two 
main and essential questions of the problem of every 
plant development: 

1. What are the manufacturing requirements of the 

business in question ? 

2. What are the specific requisites of the manufactur¬ 

ing plant best adapted to these demands? 

These are the problems of every plant development. 
The complete analysis, and the scientific and prac¬ 
tical determinations of these two questions embody 
the vital principles of all industrial plant develop¬ 
ment. Unless these determinations are made it will 
prove impossible to secure in any development the 
efficient operating instrument sought. 

It is impossible to put too much emphasis upon 
the importance of these necessary exhaustive analyses 
and studies, and the necessity of foregoing all off¬ 
hand and hastily-made or arbitrary assumptions in 
the matter of the manufacturing requirements of a 
plant. Many grievious and costly errors have been 
made because of a complacent readiness to accept 
the product, the processes, and the special manu¬ 
facturing machinery as they exist, as the “last word 
in the matter’’—not because investigation and anal¬ 
ysis has so proven them to be so, but just because 
these things have existed as they have for so long 
that they have become “habits of thought” and, 
seemingly, the naturally correct solution. 

In the opinion of some executives, these items are 


22 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


factors more or less foreign to any necessary study 
of the matter of the rehabilitation or development 
of a plant; but this is absolutely a wrong idea, for 
no machinery, processes, or methods should be ac¬ 
cepted as the “ultimate” development unless they 
have been brought to a thoroughly fixed economic and 
satisfactory basis by scientific and practical tests 
and demonstrations. This should be realized and 
appreciated as the first necessary step in any plant 
rehabilitation or development. 

Investigations and Studies.—With such an under¬ 
standing, preliminary surveys and studies should be 
undertaken to reveal the actual conditions and re¬ 
quirements of the industry. These may be made, 
under the direction of an executive of the business, 
by competent members of his immediate organiza¬ 
tion—if such are available and free to undertake and 
carry them through. But more often it is advisable 
to retain the services of a competent engineer with 
an organization thoroughly experienced in and avail¬ 
able for such work. 

In any case the greatest measure of success in such 
studies can only be attained through the effective 
co-operation of all the various department heads and 
individuals involved in the organization and admin¬ 
istration of the enterprise. A complete understand¬ 
ing of the general nature of the essential processes of 
manufacture involved should be supplemented by 
that very detailed and intimate knowledge possessed 
by those supervising the separate and individual de¬ 
partments and processes throughout every step, from 
obtaining, storing, and preparing the raw materials 



GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 23 

used to the actual shipment and merchandising of the 
finished product. 

It is more than probable that these studies, em¬ 
bracing as they should a systematic investigation of 
actual operating conditions, may disclose a number of 
deficiencies and defects that may be eliminated, as 
well as many ideas and suggestions by which the 
efficiency of the enterprise may be increased. In fact, 
it would be strange if such v T ere not the case, and 
it would represent a self-deceiving industrial com¬ 
placency rather than economic perfection if short¬ 
comings Avere not detected. 

All of these investigations and studies, while a 
part of, are really preliminary to any conception and 
formulation of an 6 6 ideal ” development for the enter¬ 
prise and the final determination of the specific requi¬ 
sites of that manufacturing plant best adapted in 
every essential and detail to the demands and necessi- 
ties of the business. 

To those unacquainted with the nature, and un¬ 
skilled in the making of such investigations and 
studies, their undertaking is a real problem. In each 
industry there are individual and distinctive elements 
peculiar to itself, so that it is impossible to set forth 
a detailed statement of just what such investigations 
must embrace for any particular industry. 

* The underlying principles of all manufacture, how¬ 
ever, are identical. They embody the utilization of 
machinery and labor, materials, and processes; and 
it is therefore possible to suggest a general outline 
of investigation that may be applicable to any indus¬ 
try, not only in determining its requirements, but in 


24 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


developing, at least in its most important essentials, 
the plant best adapted to its needs. 

Factors to be Investigated.—If such investigations 
and studies are made of the following major subjects, 
the principal and essential requirements of the in¬ 
dustry may be clearly established, and with these 
also the important and controlling features of the 
proposed manufacturing plant; they will also furnish 
much material that will be of invaluable assistance 
in the detailed design of the plant. These suggested 
subjects are: 

1. Product and output 

2. Manufacturing processes 

3. Manufacturing machinery 

4. Auxiliary manufacturing equipment 

5. Special requirements of departments 

6. Steam and power sources and use 

7. Operators and operating control 

8. Plant arrangement and site. 

Such suggested and necessary investigations and 
studies are laborious. Perhaps they do not appeal to 
the imagination of or appear necessary to the un¬ 
trained mind. Often they involve considerable ex¬ 
pense; but when one considers what is at stake—in¬ 
vestment and profits—the trouble, labor, and expense 
involved are nothing as compared with the results 
that may be attained. 

Because of the great necessity and importance of 
the investigation and determinations that must be 
made preliminary to any plant development, if the 
development is to be a success, the various subjects 



GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 25 


and conditions that must be embraced thereby are 
further discussed in the order above enumerated. 

Product and Output. —The life of every industry is 
its product; and the success of its business depends 
primarily upon the salability of this product and, 
secondarily, its production at a cost that assures a 
profit. For this reason the product of the plant is 
the first element to be considered in connection with 
any proposed plant development. These facts should 
be obtained: 

1. Nature and kind of product 

2. Number of different types 

3. Description of grades and sizes 

4. Production schedules of each 

5. Stock and shipment schedules 

6. Raw or other purchased materials 

4. Production schedules of each 

8. Stock room and use schedules 

9. Schedule of proposed production. 

Character of the Product. —Preliminary, perhaps, 
to any investigations of the specific subjects thus 
noted, the question whether or not the product of 
the plant as manufactured is entirely satisfactory 
should be raised and answered. Unless the execu¬ 
tives of the enterprise, by their own systematic investi¬ 
gations, have predetermined it to be entirely satis¬ 
factory from the viewpoint of the market—that is, its 
salability—as well as from the standpoint of the fac¬ 
tory—that is, its profitable production—these two 
points should be made an issue, and investigated and 
settled at once. 


2G 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Any such investigation should be undertaken by 
the chief executives of the business, or with their 
direct co-operation in consultation with the members 
of the sales organization. From them all available 
information should be obtained as to existing de¬ 
mands, possible markets, and the good and bad 
features affecting the salability of the product or 
products at issue, together with any and all ideas 
they may have as regards changes in style or design, 
or improvement in quality, finish, or appearance. 

This does not mean that the sales organization 
should dictate the manufacturing policy of the enter¬ 
prise, for selling efficiency is but one element of suc¬ 
cess. It is oftentimes opposed to factory efficiency, 
in that it may be easy but does not pay to sell what 
cannot be manufactured at a profit. 

It does mean, however, that the suggestions, 
wishes and demands of the sales organization should 
be definitely formulated and then be given every 
reasonable consideration by the executives of the 
business in conference with the members of the manu¬ 
facturing organization, and that earnest effort should 
be made to reach an equitable and profitable com¬ 
promise in reconciling efficiency of manufacturing 
with efficiency of selling. 

Any change in the character of the product is a 
most important undertaking, not only from the view¬ 
point of the sales department, but also from the 
standpoint of the manufacturing organization. No 
change should be definitely determined upon and 
put into effect except with the complete co-operation 
of all the various branches of the organization and 


GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 27 

the direct approval of the chief executive, after con¬ 
sideration and conference thereon with his associates 
and subordinates. 

There are times, however, when a change of style, 
or of design, or improvement in the quality or ap¬ 
pearance of an article increases its desirability and 
leads to increased sales even on the basis of higher 
prices. Again, it has often developed that such 
changes are effected coincidently with a resultant 
decrease in manufacturing cost, so that the business 
benefits both by increased demand for the product 
and by the cheapened cost of manufacture. For these 
reasons the investigations of the product of the plant 
should be thorough and exhaustive; and if any 
changes are to be made, they should be determined 
upon, and the final character of the product fixed, 
before proceeding with any plant development. 

Cost of the Product.—Every manufacturer should 
know the cost of every article produced in the plant. 
If this is not known it should be investigated without 
delay, particularly where a variety of products or 
several types or sizes of articles are produced; for it 
happens at times that under such conditions a w T ide 
range of products is being manufactured upon which 
there is but .slight margin of profit—sometimes, in 
fact, the concern suffers a loss from every sale of cer- 
• tain products it makes. When such facts are known, 
then either the manufacture of unprofitable articles is 
discontinued or a modification of the design, ma¬ 
terials, processes, or machinery is effected to reduce 
the cost to a basis affording a reasonable margin of 
profit. 


28 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


It is quite apparent, therefore, that it is most ad¬ 
vantageous to have a complete and accurate knowl¬ 
edge of the costs of the products manufactured be¬ 
fore planning any proposed plant developments; for 
if it is advisable to discontinue or change a certain 
product, this fact sould be known before any provi¬ 
sion for its manufacture is made in the general plan 
of the proposed new plant or remodelled establish¬ 
ment. Space and equipment may accordingly be de¬ 
voted solely to profitable work or, what is virtually 
the same and quite as economical, the size of the 
proposed plant may be correspondingly reduced to meet 
the modified conditions. 

There are many instances where studies of the 
product in the light of approved methods of cost ac¬ 
counting have disclosed the fact that “special’* prod¬ 
ucts—and sometimes certain “standard’’ articles— 
were being manufactured, at times in small and at 
other times in large quantities, without profit, yet, 
according to the factory cost records, without ap¬ 
parent loss. As a matter of fact, however, such pro¬ 
duction will frequently result in a substantial loss, 
because a very appreciable portion of the plant, ma¬ 
chinery, and operators are thus engaged on a work 
that returns no profit, when the energies of all might 
have been devoted to the manufacture of iX paying ’ 9 
articles. 

Production or Output.—In any study of the product 
of the plant, particularly if it is preliminary to the 
betterment or extension of an existing establishment 
or a proposed new plant, it is essential to define very 
particularly the present output and that desired or 


GROUNDWORK OP PLANT DEVELOPMENT 29 


proposed; and then to give careful consideration to 
further future requirements, such as may result from 
the natural growth of the industry as well as the 
possibilities of a specially stimulated demand for the 
product. 

This, of course, means a study and analysis of past 
production records and present and future markets. 
The analysis of these factors and the relative weight 
or value to accord each in determining what produc¬ 
tion will prove the most profitable, demands not only 
a thorough knowledge of the business, but extremely 
sound business judgment and sagacity. 

Production or quantity of output should be a very 
definite thing. This naturally is a matter of com¬ 
pany, policy, and it should be determined and fixed as 
such by the chief executives of the business. It must 
be made something definite if the rehabilitated or en¬ 
larged or new plant is to be operated with the great¬ 
est possible economies. 

The ability to do a certain amount of work—that 
is, to manufacture a specific output at maximum effi¬ 
ciency and with the utmost economy—demands a 
very definite plant with definite space, and in it defi¬ 
nite equipment, definite organization, and a definite 
number of employees. 

The plant should be thoroughly planned for its 
future as well as its present production requirements, 
but it should be built and equipped only for its im¬ 
mediate needs. Unnecessary floor space and idle ma¬ 
chinery are not profitable, and the business should 
not be burdened with them. Of course there are 
bound to be, in many industries, fluctuations in the 


30 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


volume of production, due to seasonal demands and 
general business conditions. But if these are under¬ 
stood and anticipated in designing the new plant, 
their effect may be minimized by the use of special 
equipment and capably planned operating schedules, 
with organization and machinery sufficiently elastic 
to stand a reasonable overload, and at the same time 
not too costly to maintain in times of diminished 
production. 

The new plant should therefore be built for imme¬ 
diate needs; but in planning it provision should be 
made for future growth, first, by obtaining a loca¬ 
tion and site that will afford opportunity for its 
most economical development, and second, by plan¬ 
ning in practically all essential details every probable 
growth and defining just the ways and means by 
which such several successive additions or extensions 
may be made without disturbing manufacturing opera¬ 
tions or destroying what has already been built up. 

The new plant designed for an immediate specific 
production should be one unit in a comprehensive 
scheme of the ultimate plant; other units should be 
planned and provision in the general scheme for their 
addition to the plant as the business may demand. 
The underlying principle of the entire development 
should be the maximum utilization of space and 
equipment that has been provided for specific needs 
and designed for the purpose of meeting such re¬ 
quirements with the utmost economy. 

Detailed Schedules.—When and after it has been 
definitely decided whether or not the product is 
satisfactory as it is being manufactured—and if not, 


GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 31 

just what changes are to be made to bring it to such 
a desired state—and when the materials used in its 
manufacture are definitely fixed and production 
agreed upon, then the investigation should proceed 
to take up the specific subjects as noted in the fore¬ 
going pages. 

Detailed schedules should be prepared which are 
descriptive of the nature of the product, its various 
types, grades, and sizes and the daily, weekly, or 
monthly production of each. These should be supple¬ 
mented by stock room and shipment schedules clearly 
indicating the quantities carried in stock at different 
times and under varying conditions, and the nature 
of shipments—whether periodically in bulk or con¬ 
stantly in lots comparable with the rate of produc¬ 
tion. This information must be had to define the 
extent of finish stock or storage space required and 
the facilities for stacking or otherwise handling the 
product therein, as well as to plan the shipping room 
accommodations and fix upon methods best facilitat¬ 
ing the handling and delivery of the product from 
stock to cars for rail shipment or to trucks for local 
deliveries. 

It is for almost identical reasons just as important 
to know the basis upon which purchases are made; 
and in what quantities and at what times “raw” or 
other incoming materials used in manufacture, are 
received and delivered to the manufacturing depart¬ 
ments for use. Such information is necessary as the 
basis for fixing the location and determining the size 
of raw material stock-rooms and the most effective 
means of unloading, handling, stocking, and transfer- 



32 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ring it from incoming shipments to the manufactur¬ 
ing departments. 

With this information, supplemented by a complete 
and definite schedule of proposed production in¬ 
creases, one has at command all the facts as to what 
is coming into the plant and what is going out and 
when. It then becomes a concrete problem of how 
best to handle certain definite kinds and quantities of 
materials to and from the manufacturing division of 
the plant, what space and facilities to provide for 
stock rooms, and what arrangements and con¬ 
veniences for forwarding receipts and shipments. 

Manufacturing Processes.—The product of the 
manufacturing plant having been determined and very 
definitely fixed, particularly as regards the materials 
to be used and the quality, shape, size, finish, and 
quantity to be produced, the next consideration is 
the process or processes involved or to be employed 
in its manufacture. 

It is quite obvious that in any industry the pro¬ 
cesses of manufacture dictate the kind and extent of 
machinery, appliances, and employees required for 
any predetermined production. These would there¬ 
fore appear to be the dominant factor in planning the 
plant—at least in determining, in large measure, its 
physical characteristics of arrangement and extent. 

It is therefore exceedingly important that those 
responsible for or having to do with the proposed 
new plant, obtain a thorough working knowledge of 
the manufacturing processes in use or that it may be 
planned to employ. For this purpose it is advisable 
that such studies embody at least these essentials: 


GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 33 


1. General description of the processes 

2. Graphic diagram of processes and all manufactur¬ 

ing operations including the travel of materials 
from receipt of “raw” to shipment of “finished” 
stock 

3. Detailed description of each process and operation; 

cause and effect; quantities handled; and operat¬ 
ing periods 

4. Means in use for standardizing operations and 

methods and systems of exact control 

5. Schedule of materials or work in process at close 

of each day; quantities in each department await¬ 
ing process and finished for delivery to succeed¬ 
ing process or department 

6. Conditions of product in process at close of each 

day and special requirements, if any, for carry¬ 
ing same over without injury. 

Following such studies the investigation should 
be extended to a comparative analysis of the value 
of such processes as are thus employed with those 
that are in use in other similar industries, or that 
represent the highest development. 

As a rule extensive industrial developments are 
the outgrowths of small beginnings, and the new 
plants constructed are, generally, in answer to the 
growing demands of the business of established con¬ 
cerns whose principals have supposedly investigated 
and familiarized themselves with all the latest and 
best processes and methods employed in similar es¬ 
tablishments or which they have adopted or planned 
to adopt in the new plant. Many concerns spend an¬ 
nually large sums in process investigations and re¬ 
search work, in a never-ceasing attempt to effect a 


34 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


betterment of their manufacturing processes and 
methods, appreciating that economical processes and 
efficient processing methods are the very foundations 
of profitable manufacture. 

Some of the companies attempting this work do not 
follow it up seriously and even in some of the largest 
plants this polic) T of investigation and research is ap¬ 
plied spasmodically; in others, half-heartedly or by 
rule of thumb rather than scientifically; and at times 
it is entirely forgotten under the stress and strain of 
the heavy every-day demands of routine business. 

Whatever may have been the policy of the officials 
of the enterprise in this regard it is essential that 
manufacturing processes and processing methods be 
discussed, investigated, and definitely decided upon 
preliminary to any attempt at plant development, if 
the proposed development is to be an assured success. 

In any given line of industry there may be several 
methods of securing the desired results, and these of 
course must be thoroughly understood. 

The first work, then, is to have the processes 
that are employed in the plant developed and brought 
to the basis of the most modern, efficient, economical, 
and general use. If the processes employed are not 
those most highly developed, or if the officials of the 
enterprise are uncertain in this regard, then this 
matter should be investigated thoroughly before any 
very definite planning of the new plant is undertaken. 
Otherwise there is comparatively little advantage in 
attempting to develop an “ideal” plant to operate 
along such lines; for it is obvious that with com¬ 
petitors using better methods, and from time to time 


GROUNDWORK OF PLANT DEVELOPMENT 35 


improving them, there are slight possibilities of the 
proposed plant attaining its greatest success under 
such a heavy original handicap and disadvantage. 

In any consideration of manufacturing processes, 
wherein the aim is their simplification or improve¬ 
ment, it must be thoroughly appreciated that the sub¬ 
ject must be handled in a practical way. It is often 
possible to suggest the introduction of processes, 
either elaborate or simple, that from a theoretical 
basis have much to commend them, and to present 
any number of seemingly excellent recommendations, 
all of which may, from a practical standpoint, be en¬ 
tirely undesirable or impossible of fulfillment. 

Any such investigations should be made with the 
direct co-operation of the technical and executive 
officials of the organization and of those supervising 
the control of the processes employed. Not only must 
the general processes, which are usually made up of 
a number of separate processes, be thoroughly known 
and understood, but a complete grasp must be had 
of each individual step in the entire cycle of opera¬ 
tions. This demands the very special knowledge of 
those directly engaged in the use of the processes, as 
well as those familiar with special and local condi¬ 
tions which must govern and control such operations. 

In numerous instances the manufacturing processes 
employed are patented or secret, and represent one 
of the leading assets of the enterprise because of 
their great economic advance over the methods in 
general use. On the other hand, many of our success¬ 
ful industries have been developed on the basis of 
general processes well known, yet have attained a 


36 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


very notable success by the judicious application of 
such processes, or by the extensive scale of their 
application. In any case, however, the success of the 
enterprise was and is largely dependent upon the 
technical skill and knowledge possessed by those in 
control of the plant. But whatever the processes, 
and however skilled may be the managers, engineers, 
or chemists of the organization, it is a recognized 
fact today that efficient manufacturing conditions de¬ 
mand that, not only the main processes employed, but 
all subsidiary processes and processing operations 
must be definitely standardized and made subject to a 
svstem of exact record and control. 

A thorough study, therefore, should be made, not 
only of processes, but of processing methods and the 
means employed for their control in the present 
plant; for this must serve as the basis of the pro¬ 
posed new development, and the determination of 
the ways and means to be employed therein to bring 
about the efficient, economical, and convenient manu¬ 
facturing unit sought. 

It is also necessary to obtain complete schedules 
of the material or work in process at the close of each 
day; its position, its condition, and any special pro¬ 
tection or treatment that may be required to prevent 
its injury. This information enters into determina¬ 
tions of floor space, trucks, racks, bins, refrigerators, 
dryers, and other facilities that may be required. 


CHAPTER III 


SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED 

PLANT 

Manufacturing Machinery.—When one has estab¬ 
lished the groundwork of a proposed plant develop¬ 
ment—that is, definitely decided just what product is 
to be made and just how it is to be manufactured— 
then one is confronted with the “ways and means’’ 
of manufacture, and first and chief of all is the manu¬ 
facturing machinery. It is the general tendency of 
the present-day aggressive industrial executives to 
install the most modern and efficient machines, and 
to insist that the manufacturing equipment of the 
plant be maintained upon an “up to date” basis, 
even though it demands at times a seemingly prema¬ 
ture replacement or “scrapping” of costly machines. 

This condition does not hold for all industries, 
however, and in many of our manufacturing plants 
the machines and other manufacturing or processing 
equipments are very poorly adapted to the work they 
perform. These often represent the earliest crude 
and cumbersome development—sometimes the only 
development—of such apparatus, and the result is 
that they are operated with unwarranted and inex¬ 
cusable inefficiency. 

Much of the possible profits of maximum produc¬ 
tion and minimum operating costs depend upon the 

37 


38 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


adaptability of the manufacturing machinery and 
apparatus to the work. For this reason it is im¬ 
portant that the investigation of the machines and 
apparatus in use be very thorough, embodying not 
only information of their nature, type, and capacity, 
but also very definite knowledge of their exact pur¬ 
pose and the degree of efficiency with which they 
perform or should be made to operate. 

Preliminary to any final consideration of their oper¬ 
ating value comparative with that of other types of 
machines or apparatus that are in use and have 
proven their superiority, or with that which may be 
modified or developed to meet the demands of the 
specific work they have to do, the following very 
essential data should be obtained: 

1. Nature and classification of machines 

2. Description of work performed 

3. Individual schedules of operation 

4. Number of operators required for each 

5. Theoretical and actual capacities of machines 

6. Schedule of special requirements of each—power, 

steam, air, water, and light 

7. Diagram of each, showing general dimensions, feed 

and delivery, unusual methods of operation, 
and points of application and exhaust of power, 
steam, water, etc. 

It is not sufficient merely to obtain and tubulate 
such information, to be followed blindly in laying out 
the machinery of the new plant. For in nearly every 
instance in which a thorough analysis has been made of 
such carefully obtained data and the actual work of 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 39 

the individual machines compared with the theoreti¬ 
cal and with that obtained in other plants, the result 
has been some improvement in the convenience and 
efficiency of their operation, often resulting in in¬ 
creased output and a reduction of the operating or 
unit costs. 

In addition to determining the adaptability of the 
machines themselves to the work for which they are 
used, the question of their proper operation must be 
decided. That this is important requires, perhaps, 
no other statement than the oft-quoted phrase, “One is 
more apt to find, in American plants, good, modern 
machines inefficiently operated, than the skilful oper¬ 
ation of inefficient and antiquated types. ” 

As a rule the determination as to just what ma¬ 
chines are to be used in the new plant is not likely 
to be attended with great divergence of opinion, for 
those who have to do with the operation of industrial 
plants quite fully appreciate that their purpose is 
production and that experiments and experimental 
work must be subordinated thereto. In part, there¬ 
fore, the existing machinery in use in the present 
plant, and in other part, standard machines which 
have developed their usefulness through years of 
experience or proven their worth by practical results, 
must be adopted. The great point is to reach a logi¬ 
cal and practical conclusion as to how much of the 
“old” and what proportion of new or improved 
types shall be used, and just what may be done to 
improve any of the machines themselves or the 
methods or appliances used in their operation, with¬ 
out introducing, in any way, experimental or other 


40 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


issues involving a problematical value or indefinite 
date of application. 

As regards the number of machines to be installed 
in the new plant and their distribution or location, 
the most natural guide is the equipment and arrange¬ 
ment of the older plant or a corresponding establish¬ 
ment; but the equipment of these plants should be 
taken as a guide and not as an example to be followed 
blindly in the new. 

Sound engineering and good business judgment 
must be applied to determinations as to the adequacy 
of the manufacturing equipment; for if inadequate 
in any part, it may be necessary to run such parts 
or elements at unprofitable overloads or overtime, 
often with the loss of orders which conditions of 
mass production might make profitable. It is quite 
evident that there must be proper co-ordination in 
the matter of machine and process capacities for any 
effective and efficient operation of the plant; for if 
certain machinery at any one important stage of the 
manufacturing process turns out material and work 
at a rate greater than that at which it can be handled 
in the next stage, there is involved temporary stor¬ 
age and extra transportation and handling, or else 
excessive accumulation at intermediate points which 
inevitably must choke the several regular channels of 
travel and flow with self-evident evils. Therefore, 
the purpose and the actual and possible work of the 
machines must be thoroughly understood; the good 
and bad points of their location and arrangement 
appreciated, and the possibilities of increasing their 
productiveness definitely determined. 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 41 


Special Requirements.—In this connection the spe¬ 
cial requirements of the machines must not be over¬ 
looked. It is not sufficient to assume for any machine 
that it requires, say, about ten horsepower for its 
operation, and, if it uses steam and water, that per¬ 
haps a two-inch steam supply, a two-incli water in¬ 
let, and a four-inch drain is “about right.” One 
should determine the exact amount of power required, 
the characteristics of the power load, and what ad¬ 
vantages, if any, an individual motor drive would 
have over a belted or group drive. The steam re¬ 
quirements should be made a statement of fact—there 
should be a reason for a certain quantity, quality, 
and temperature; and the comparative advantages 
of high or low pressure or “exhaust” steam and its 
direct or indirect application should be known. 

It is not enough to assume that because the ma¬ 
chine requires water in its operations, and because 
this is fed through, say, a two-inch pipe in the pres¬ 
ent plant, that it requires just and only that in the 
new. It really requires a definite amount of water 
supplied continuously or intermittently at a definite 
rate or rates. Hot water may be better than cold, 
and this at one hundred and eighty degrees may be 
more efficacious than at one hundred and ten. Why? 

“What” and “why” should be determined, and 
then some means of controlling the special require¬ 
ments, preferably automatic, should be devised. If 
certain amounts of steam, water, or the like are neces- 
sarv, they should be provided in those amounts; the 
quantities, qualities, temperatures, and other factois 
should be constant, and the work done should be 


42 


TilK FACTORY BUILDINGS 


uniform—the same at four o’clock as at ten, and the 
same tomorrow as it was yesterday. 

Auxiliary Manufacturing Equipment.—In many 
manufacturing industries considerable auxiliary 
equipment is required in addition to the main ma¬ 
chines. Such equipment comprises “hand” and 
other portable tools, jigs and fixtures, work benches 
and tables, scales, trucks, conveyors, hoists, and other 
means for the handling of materials and work in 
process. 

All these bear an important relationship to the 
primary manufacturing machinery. Their purpose 
is to serve and promote the operating efficiency of 
the primary equipment by eliminating therefrom all 
operations that may be performed to greater advan¬ 
tage in other ways and by other means, and by pro¬ 
viding those facilities that tend to reduce the oper¬ 
ating time of the various processes by eliminating 
delays and affording the most efficient and convenient 
delivery of materials and work to and from the main 
machines. 

The most fruitful study of what the auxiliary man¬ 
ufacturing equipments of a plant should comprise 
must start with an acceptance of the fact that their 
purpose is the elimination of all misdirected or mis¬ 
applied effort and energy, both in men and machines, 
and the reduction of their lost time to a minimum. 
It should then embrace a complete knowledge of the 
facilities or equipment provided and in use for this 
purpose in the present plant, its good and bad points 
and wherein it excels or is inadequate; and these 
facts should be obtained and absorbed preliminary to 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 43 


any attempt at defining any changes or additions 
thereto for use in the new plant. 

Some indication of the nature and extent of such 
a necessary investigation is suggested in the follow¬ 
ing outline of certain information, regarding the pres¬ 
ent plant, that is indispensable to any logical conclu¬ 
sions as to the facilities required in and best adapted 
to the needs of the new: 

1. Detailed schedule of the type, size, and purpose 

of work benches, operating and inspection tables, 
stock racks and bins, scales, and other fixtures, 

2. Schedule of portable, power-operated tools, jigs, fix¬ 

tures and other appliances, including a statement 
of their purpose, 

3. Description of means for handling materials from 

incoming receipts to stock room, in stock, to and 
from and between manufacturing operations and 
processes to finished stock and shipment, 

4. Schedule of all such trucks, cars, conveyors, hoists, 

elevators, cranes, etc., with description of their 
purpose and service, 

5. All necessary diagrams of auxiliary equipments, 

showing important dimensions, methods of opera¬ 
tion, and application of power, etc., 

6. Brief statements of the completeness or lack of 

auxiliary equipments and their adaptability, ef¬ 
fectiveness, and efficiency, and wherein and why 
any fail in the intended purpose. 

The information thus obtained should be taken, in 
conjunction with the knowledge of the main manu¬ 
facturing machinery and apparatus, as the basis of a 
very exhaustive study for determining the maximum 


44 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


possible manufacturing economies and operating effi¬ 
ciencies of the several individual processes and de¬ 
partments, and of the entire plant as a unit. They 
are the physical factors which more than any others, 
except the product itself, determine and fix the extent 
and arrangement of the plant, equipments, buildings, 
operators, and operating results. They represent the 
very fundamentals of the physical instrument to 
which all the effort of industry must be applied and 
through which it enjoys gain or suffers loss. 

Design of Auxiliary Equipment.—That the auxil¬ 
iary manufacturing equipment bears, therefore, a close 
relationship to the main machinery of the plant, and 
has a great influence in plant operations, is quite 
evident, and its importance is apparent. For these 
reasons it is just as important that the auxiliary 
equipments which have a definite purpose be designed 
and provided to meet specific needs. This in itself 
is an immense undertaking, and requires a very 
thorough knowledge and understanding of every in¬ 
dividual step in the process of manufacture, the work 
performed by each machine, and the methods and 
appliances that have proven themselves to be the 
best adapted thereto or that may be devised therefor. 
It is an undertaking that, to be successful, must have 
the advice, co-operation, and assistance of the oper¬ 
ators and their supervisors who perform and are 
responsible for the work of manufacture. 

Special Attention to Routing.—The handling of 
materials throughout the plant is, in many industries, 
a very complicated problem, and is aggravated, very 
often, by unfortunate arrangements of machinery, 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 45 


processes, departments, and, at times, the plant as a 
whole. The equipment then required for the mechani¬ 
cal or other economical delivery of materials to and 
from the several manufacturing departments and to 
and from the machines, becomes almost prohibitive 
because of its first cost or the difficulties in the way 
of its installation, so that recourse is had to hand 
trucks and other cumbersome handling methods. 

The whole system of the methods and means to be 
employed in the handling of materials must be care¬ 
fully worked out in conjunction with the arrangement 
of machines and other manufacturing apparatus, work 
benches, weighing and measuring machines, stock 
racks and bins, store rooms, and so on. It is at this 
point that the proper routing and handling of ma¬ 
terials becomes an important factor in plant design; 
for this is an elemental consideration in any manu¬ 
facturing establishment and of the utmost importance 
in planning a new plant. 

The routing and handling of materials in the pres¬ 
ent plant may serve as a basis for the development 
of such in the new, and for this reason it should be 
thoroughly investigated. But it is more important 
that one obtain a very complete knowledge and ap¬ 
preciation of the demands oi the maunfactuiing ma¬ 
chines and processing equipments. This is particu¬ 
larly true as to when, how, and in what quantity 
materials should be delivered to and removed there- 
from, and as to their shape, size, and condition and 
whether or not they should be stocked in this depart¬ 
ment or that, or be delivered at once to a succeeding 
machine or process. 


46 


Tire FACTORY BUILDINGS 


It is essential to determine the needs and require¬ 
ments for the handling of materials in every individ¬ 
ual step in their transfer from the “raw” stock room 
to the first manufacturing department and to the in¬ 
dividual machines therein, and so through successive 
departments and operations to “finished’’ stock; for 
when the best ways and means are devised for each 
individual and specific case, one has obtained all the 
elements that enter into a complete system. The 
individual units may then be modified and harmo¬ 
nized to effect a development providing the utmost 
economy, efficiency, and convenience. 

Special Requirements of Departments.—Every de¬ 
partment of a manufacturing plant has certain speci¬ 
fic needs and requirements peculiar to itself. This is 
a condition often overlooked, with disastrous results. 
It is so important a matter that if such needs do not 
appear to exist to one undertaking the rearrangement 
and betterment of an existing works, or responsible 
for the layout and development of a new plant, his 
completed scheme and plans will certainly embody 
serious faults. 

In some instances these requirements are structural; 
that is, certain special features must be incorporated 
in the building itself which houses the department. 
It may be the height from floor to ceiling; or a par¬ 
ticular type of wall, floor, or roof; extraordinary 
natural light or ventilation, or protection from haz¬ 
ardous operations. Unless these are provided in the 
original building, their incorporation may later be¬ 
come necessary at great cost, or at serious incon¬ 
venience, or, perhaps, a “make-shift” will be sub- 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 47 


stituted. Otherwise their omission may be a con¬ 
tinued detriment to the department’s efficiency. 

In other instances many of these special require¬ 
ments may call for unusual systems of heating, light¬ 
ing or ventilation, as the machines and processing ap¬ 
paratus may demand steam, water and air under 
varying and unusual conditions. 

All the requirements of every department of the 
plant should be investigated, analyzed, and definitely 
fixed. Such an investigation should furnish at least 
the following information: 

1. Description of any special foundation, floor, wall, 

roof or other unusual construction required or 
advantageous, 

2. Special protection required because of extra hazard¬ 

ous operations or processes for buildings, equip¬ 
ment, or operators, 

3. Schedule of the total quantities and nature of 

power, steam, air, water, etc., required for the 
machines, processes, and o*ther equipment of each 
department, 

4. Description of all special ventilating, heating, light¬ 

ing, plumbing, and sewage requirements, 

5. Schedule of stock room and storage facilities, tool 

rooms, inspection offices, foremens’ offices, etc, 
with descriptions of their essential needs and 
equipments, 

6. Schedule and description of operators’ service re¬ 

quirements, including drinking water and foun¬ 
tains, lavatories, toilets, shower baths, and locker 
rooms, and accident or rest rooms. 

The investigation of these special departmental 


48 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


requirements should not be casual, for in some ways 
they are hardly less important in fixing operating 
economies than is the manufacturing equipment it¬ 
self. Taken together therewith they form the essen¬ 
tial “skeleton’’ or outline of the new plant, and in 
many regards decide its final arrangement and dic¬ 
tate its important features. 

Special Ventilating and Lighting Requirements.— 
It is often wise, for example, to house extra hazard¬ 
ous processes and operations in specially designed 
buildings—either separate units, safely removed from 
but convenient to the main buildings; or in wings 
adjoining the main plant. In addition, it is some¬ 
times advantageous, not only from the standpoint of 
the employees’ safety and welfare, but also from the 
viewpoint of plant protection from fire or other dam¬ 
age, to provide special means for the continuous re¬ 
moval of unhealthful dust, obnoxious fumes, and 
readily combustible gases. For the same reason, it 
is well to allay or collect and ground static electricity 
generated by machinery or belts, to install electric 
wiring and lamps in a manner proof against deterior¬ 
ating or dangerous vapors, and to equip the depart¬ 
ment with extraordinary fire-fighting appliances, as 
well as to provide accessible means of quick escape 
for the workers. 

Again, the work of the department may be such as 
to demand the very best possible natural light. This 
may necessitate a one-storv structure or the location 
of the department on the top floor of a multiple¬ 
storied building, where skylights or a roof largely 
composed of a glass area may be used. At other 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 49 

times the nature of' the operations may require a 
special type of floor or roof, such as in dye houses 
and finishing plants where great quantities of water 
and steam are used. This usually means that such 
a department must he located on the ground, either 
with a concrete floor, or, in the case of acid waters, 
with a vitrified brick or tile floor, and with a roof 
designed to prevent condensation but providing for 
the quick removal and escape of vapors. 

In many departments the operations are such as to 
necessitate the use of special heating and ventilating 
equipments. This is particularly true in silk mills 
and other plants using animal and vegetable fibres. 
In such instances, a constant and uniform tempera¬ 
ture and humidity is a necessity to economic manu¬ 
facture. This can he best obtained by the scientific 
introduction and distribution of a predetermined 
amount of warmed or cooled air, carrying a specified 
and controlled amount of moisture. In departments 
which cover a great expanse of floor area, natural 
ventilation is sometimes impossible, and heating by 
means of direct radiation, such as by steam coils, is 
therefore impractical. It then becomes not only nec¬ 
essary but probable to heat and ventilate by means 
of washed and warmed, or cooled, air introduced and 
distributed by means of fans and ducts. 

Stock and Tool Room Requirements.—It is these dis¬ 
cussed requirements of the departments that bear most 
strongly, perhaps, on departmental location and the 
type of building and features of construction most 
suited to their needs; but there are other and, in some 
ways, no less important requirements for which pro- 


50 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


vision must ho made. Stock, storage, and tool rooms 
must be adequate, well located, and properly equipped. 
Too often, just “so much” space is marked off for 
them, and is partitioned off and left to the caprices 
of a stock clerk to “fix-up” in any way that suits 
him. 

In many instances improperly located stock rooms, 
the lack of stock room equipment, and careless, un¬ 
businesslike methods of arrangement and control 
have worked havoc with plant-operating schedules. 

With the previously discussed schedules of raw 
materials, work in process, and finished product in 
hand, the stock room system should be carefully 
worked out; first, upon the basis of individual depart¬ 
mental needs, and then upon a comprehensive and 
systematic scheme for the whole plant. 

Stock room equipment, stock handling systems, and 
stock control methods should receive a special de¬ 
tailed study, beginning first with a clear and com¬ 
plete statement of the needs of every department and 
division of the plant; followed by planning the ar¬ 
rangement, equipment, and facilities of the room in 
the most practical way, considering both the materials 
to be handled and the system of control and opera¬ 
tion, and finally developing the methods and means 
for handling materials and stock from the point of 
collection to their delivery to succeeding processes or 
other departments. 

Steam and Power Requirements.—There are other 
schedules of special departmental requirements that 
at times influence plant arrangement perhaps more 
than they effect the layout of any individual depart- 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 51 


ment. Examples are: the steam, and water used in 
the manufacturing processes, which bear upon the 
relative location of the power plant in reference to 
all the departments of the manufacturing plant as a 
unit; and also the operators’ service facilities which 
may be provided in individual unit groups adjoining 
or adjacent to the departments they serve, or con¬ 
solidated largely in a single group incorporated in a 
special “service’* building. All of these requirements 
should, however, be ascertained in detail; for these 
facts, so scheduled, must be the basis upon which 
very important phases of plant equipment and ar¬ 
rangement must be worked out and decided. 

Some of the greatest industrial “mistakes ’’ are 
found in the power plant. Often they do not end 
there, but follow the power, steam, water, and other 
transmission lines throughout the manufacturing 
plant, finally exhausting themselves to the atmosphere 
or disappearing into a sewer. This is largely be¬ 
cause the average manufacturer has failed, first, to 
inform himself of just what his plant requirements 
for power, light, steam, cold and hot water, etc., 
actually are; second, to determine in just what way 
these may be best provided, transmitted, and used; 
third, to investigate and learn the practical principles 
of economic steam and power generation and use; 
and fourth, to ascertain the costs of his power plant 
operations and compare them with “central station” 
rates from which power, and sometimes steam, may 
be purchased at a great saving and with many ad¬ 
vantages. 

There certainly can be no more fitting or opportune 


52 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


time to investigate the matter of steam and power 
sources and use than when the revamping or com¬ 
plete rehabilitation of the manufacturing plant is con¬ 
templated or a new plant is proposed. 

As a necessary preliminary to any sound or worthy 
conclusions as to whether to continue to operate the 
present power plant or to purchase power from a cen¬ 
tral station or to build a new power plant, or to use 
this or that method of generation, transmission, or ap¬ 
plication, a thorough investigation must be made of 
the manufacturing plant’s requirements and, at least, 
the following information obtained regarding both the 
present and proposed new plant: 

1. Complete schedule and description, detailed by de¬ 

partments, of all steam and power requirements, 
including such auxiliary demands as light, heat, 
ventilation, cold and hot water, compressed air, 
and so on; 

2. Graphic diagram and descriptive schedule of the 

present or proposed “Power Plant,” including 
the source, generation, distribution, and utiliza¬ 
tion of coal, water, steam, power, light, etc.; 

3. Complete analysis of present power costs, including 

analysis of water and coal, and a detailed esti¬ 
mate of such costs for the new plant; 

4. Description of operating methods and facilities, and 

means of operating control in use or proposed; 

5. Schedule of the local central-station power and 

lighting company rates for power and lighting 
current, and for steam when steam may be pur¬ 
chased. 

In undertaking such an investigation one must 
ascertain as accurately as possible, not only the 


REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 53 


quantity requirements of each machine, process, and 
department, but also the nature of the demand for such 
power. 

For instance, in the case of steam: Is it necessary 
that this be applied “direct” for absorption by the 
materials in process, and if so, at what pressure and 
temperature! If its indirect application is necessary 
or possible, what means are provided that it may do 
its work effectively! Can these be improved and be 
made more convenient or economical! What quan¬ 
tities and temperatures are necessary! What be¬ 
comes of the condensed steam or ‘ 6 water of conden¬ 
sation !” 

Again, in the case of power: What is the amount 
and nature of the load on each individual machine! 
Is it intermittent! Must the full load be “picked- 
up” with the starting of the machine! How many 
hours per day is the machine operated? If mechani¬ 
cal transmission is used and the machines are group 
driven, what is the friction load of the transmission 
lines! Would it be a great advantage if the machines 
or certain machines were driven by individual 
motors! Wliat is the maintenance cost of shafting 
and belts! If elecric power is used, what is the 
source and nature of the current and the method and 
svstem of distribution! 

All of these facts and other such pertinent infor¬ 
mation should be obtained by actual measurement 
wherever possible. When this is not possible, or 
when it is impracticable to obtain definite measures 
of quantities, they should be estimated very carefully 
and checked by all available guiding factors. 


54 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


It is almost self-evident that such an investigation 
must be made by one technically trained and thor¬ 
oughly familiar, not only with the theory and prin¬ 
ciples involved in such work, but with modern power 
plant practice, manufacturing processes and ma¬ 
chines.* 

First of all, in my experienc, “central station’’ 
power, when such service is available at fair rates, 
should be used in preference to operating an indi¬ 
vidual factory power plant—unless such quantities of 
steam and hot water are used in manufacturing that 
power may be obtained from their production prac¬ 
tically as a by-product. 

If central-station power cannot be purchased at 
reasonable rates, and the industry requires power but 
no steam, except for plant heating, a highly efficient 
condensing engine, or, in large units, a turbo-genera¬ 
tor should, in most cases, be installed. In the major¬ 
ity of industries, electric power with motor drives, 
grouped or individual, is preferable to mechanical 
transmission systems, because of its many advantages 
and often considerable economies. 

In the case of those industries using a large amount 
of steam as well as power in their manufacturing 
operations, 1 a simple steam engine should be employed 
for the generation of power and its exhaust steam 
used for heating, cooking, drying and similar pur¬ 
poses. Such an engine does not remove more than 
five to ten per cent of the total original heat in the 
steam, and exhaust steam is just as good as live 

* For a more complete discussion, see “The Power Plant ” by 
David MofCat Myers; Factory Management Course. 





REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 55 


steam for heating purposes where only a moderate 
temperature is required, and even if a greater heat 
is required it sometimes pays to 4 6 super-heat ” the ex¬ 
haust in preference to the expense involved in the use 
of live steam. 

Operators and Operating Control.—There is no 
more important factor in the industries than the 
operators—the human element—and their value is 
largely dependent upon that proper administrative 
control which presupposes and insures fair wages, 
good treatment, and proper direction. This can only 
be accomplished in a plant suitably arranged and 
equipped for the business therein carried on, where 
the physical conditions under which the operators 
work are, in the present-day meaning of the term, 
entirely adequate. 

The modern efficient manufacturing plant is de¬ 
signed with just as much regard for the operators 
and methods of operating control as for the ma¬ 
chinery. This must be so, if the plant is to be that 
“ideal” instrument capable of operation with the 
utmost degree of economy. 

Just what these requirements are can be deter¬ 
mined only from an intimate knowledge of the exist¬ 
ing or proposed plant, obtained from such investiga¬ 
tions as have been previously suggested, and aug¬ 
mented by a special study of the workers themselves, 
their needs, and the methods by which it is proposed 
to direct and assist their efforts. 

As the basis of such a study it is suggested that 
the following information be obtained and elaborated 
upon as may seem necessary: 


56 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


1. A complete and properly detailed graphic chart of 

the controlling or executive organization, with 
specific schedules of their respective duties and 
for what and to whom they are responsible, 

2. Complete graphic chart of the manufacturing 

organization, describing the nature and extent of 
the duties of each departmental head or indi¬ 
vidual having authority, and the number of em¬ 
ployees under such direction, 

3. Operating chart of the planning and production 

department, with complete description of their 
methods and means in use or to be employed, 

4. Complete schedule of the number of operators em¬ 

ployed in each department, grouped under “pro¬ 
ductive” and “non-productive” classifications 
with the necessary descriptions of their type, sex, 
characteristics, etc., 

5. Detailed statement of the “service” facilities and 

conveniences afforded operators in the present 
plant or proposed in the new, noting any unusual 
necessities because of the nature, location, or 
other requirements of their work. 

One must have, in planning the development of 
any plant, a thorough knowledge of the methods 
the management proposes to follow in the administra¬ 
tion of the manufacturing work and all the business 
connected therewith. Those methods may and usually 
do have a very decided influence upon the arrange¬ 
ment of machinery and departments; they are a 
necessary guide to a logical routing scheme; and 
they are the basis for determining the arrangement 
of the executive and clerical offices, the location of 
the superintendents’, foremen’s, inspectors’, and other 















REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 57 


offices in the plant, and the guide’to the most satis¬ 
factory arrangement of employees’ entrances, exits, 
and lines of travel throughout the works. 

The question, what to do for the operators—the 
employees — is a practical business problem, and 
should be studied just as thoroughly as any other 
phase of the plant problem. It is axiomatic that the 
machinery of the plant should be maintained in the 
best possible condition; it should be no less axiomatic 
that the health, comfort, convenience, and efficiency 
of the operators should be equally well guarded. 

The “rights” of operators to proper working con¬ 
ditions are not a matter of sentiment. Intelligent 
employees should not be placed in the position of 
having to depend upon an altruistic or charitably in¬ 
clined management to obtain those proper working 
conditions that once may have been considered ex¬ 
pensive luxuries, but now are appreciated as abso¬ 
lute necessities and good business investments as 
well. What the management needs is a really true 
appreciation of just what constitutes “proper work¬ 
ing conditions,” and just what comprises the “facili¬ 
ties” and conveniences that the worker is entitled to. 

Briefly, they include clean, pure air, alway properly 
tempered, and protection from uncomfortable or un¬ 
healthful fumes, vapors or dust. They include ex¬ 
cellent lighting, both natural and artificial, of suffi¬ 
cient intensity; good working floors, clean, dry, dust¬ 
less, and as noiseless as possible; suitable work benches 
and tables that afford the most camfortable and effi¬ 
cient working positions, whether sitting or standing; 
mechanical equipment for the transfer and handling 


58 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


of heavy materials or stock in quantities; good drink¬ 
ing water within convenient distance; proper lockers 
and comfortable washing and dressing rooms, and 
sanitarv and convenient toilet facilities. 

w 

Employees’ entrances should be so placed as to avoid 
all needless travel through the plant. Where pos¬ 
sible, passageways should be provided so that all 
through-department travel by other departmental em¬ 
ployees is avoided. Stairways and elevators should 
be placed at convenient points, with reference to 
ready ingress and egress to the various departments. 
These should be so constructed and located as to. 
afford the greatest possible protection in case of fire 
or other emergencies. 

Every plant should be equipped with a centrally 
located “first-aid” room. This, depending upon the 
nature of the work, size of the plant, and other con¬ 
ditions, may vary from a small space, set aside at 
some convenient point, with bare essentials of first- 
aid emergency assistance, to more or less elaborate 
“rest” and “accident” rooms, very completely 
equipped and under the direction of trained and 
skilled attendants. 

When it is possible, comfortable luncheon rooms 
should be provided, and fresh, hot coffee, at least, 
should be furnished at cost. Many concerns have 
found that it pays to provide more or less elaborate 
“restaurants,” with substantial and attractive food 
at nominal prices. 

In many instances the provision of comfortable 
“rest rooms” for the women operators and “smok¬ 
ing rooms” for the men have proven good invest- 




REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 59 


ments; the latter is especially appreciated, as smok¬ 
ing has generally become prohibited in all the oper¬ 
ating departments of manufacturing plants. 

All such matters should be considered in a purely 
business-like way and from a very practical view¬ 
point; extremes in either direction arouse the em¬ 
ployees ’ risabilities or wrath. They believe they are 
justly entitled to fair wages, good treatment, and 
comfortable, convenient, and sanitary working con¬ 
ditions, and they prefer just these shorn of any 
vestige of “social philanthropy.” 

All of these matters have a great bearing upon 
plant arrangement, type of buildings, and extent of 
equipment. The requirements of the controlling or¬ 
ganization, the needs of the operators, and the de¬ 
mands of the system of manufacturing administration 
and control must be investigated, determined, and 
properly provided for if the plant is to be the effi¬ 
cient instrument sought. 

Plant Arrangement and Site.—When undertaking 
the rebuilding, or rehabilitation and extension, of an 
existing plant or when planning an entirely new plant, 
the arrangement, equipment, and facilities of the 
present or existing factory service usually as the best 
starting basis and the most helpful guide in working 
out a logical development. In conjunction with the 
foregoing suggested investigations, therefore, it is 
essential to reproduce the arrangement and equipment 
of the present plant in graphic form. Plans of the 
existing plant should, therefore, be prepared, showing 
the extent of the property, the layout of the buildings, 
the arrangement of departments, the location of 


60 


T1IE FACTORV BUILDINGS 


machinery and other manufacturing apparatus, and all 
other factors, the knowledge of which is important or 
may prove of value in the studies contemplated, par¬ 
ticularly :— 

1. Plot plan, showing the location and extent of the 

site, the shipping facilities, and the general lay¬ 
out of the plant; 

2. Detailed floor plans of each separate division and 

building, showing the floor area of each and the 
location, arrangement, and floor space of all ma¬ 
chines and other important equipments, stock 
room, assembling departments, offices, etc.; 

3. Complete routing diagrams, with the necessary de¬ 

tails as to materials in process and in stock at 
various places, the means of transportation, and 
other essentials, including the planning and pro¬ 
duction system; 

4. Where advisable or necessary, as in the case of 

plant rehabilitation and extension, complete plans 
of the power plant, power transmission system, 
steam and water lines, heating systems, lighting 
system, and all other details of the physical plant 
and equipment as it exists. 

These plans and diagrams should be supplemented 
by whatever information or suggestion it has been 
possible to obtain relative to the general arrangement 
of the proposed plant and its new site, if the plant is 
to be established in another location, such as:— 

5. Plot plan, showing the location, extent, physical 

characteristics and possible shipping facilities 
of the proposed extended or new site; 



REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 61 


6. Outline sketches or diagrams of the proposed re¬ 

built or extended plant, or of the new plant in so 
far as it has been suggested or developed by the 
executives of the organization; 

7. Departmental outline sketches or diagrams em¬ 

bodying the suggestions of the department super¬ 
visors regarding space, equipment, arrangement, 
and other important details. 

In working up any extended rearrangement of or 
additions to an existing plant or in developing an 
entirely new plant it will be found that in practically 
every instance these suggested plans, diagrams and 
outline sketches are of inestimable help, if not abso¬ 
lutely necessary, because they embody in such a very 
comprehensive and usable form so much of the infor¬ 
mation that is really the groundwork of the proposed 
development. 

It is important even in connection with the develop¬ 
ment of an existing plant in its present location that 
one have at hand all facts pertinent to the present 
site, and this is absolutely essential in the case of a new 
plant in a new location and on a new site. 

If the location of the proposed new plant has not 
been decided upon or the site selected previous to or 
coincident with the herein discussed investigations and 
studies, it might advantageously be delayed until the 
completion of plans embodying at least a preliminary 
or tentative general layout of the proposed new plant; 
for such plans, even in their general form, will present 
a summary 7 of all the foregoing investigations and their 
determinations as to the needs and requirements of 
the new plant; and these in themselves set forth the 


t 


i 



G2 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


factors that, in a large measure, must govern any logi¬ 
cal solution of the problem of plant location and site. 

In investigating any particular location or site com¬ 
plete determinations should be made, especially as to 
its relation to the raw materials’ and consumers’ mar¬ 
kets and the shipping facilities and freight rates 
afforded for receipts therefrom and deliveries thereto. 
The labor market should be thoroughly investigated, 
not only as regards the amount of labor available, but 
also its character and training, its surrounding in¬ 
fluences, the average cost of living and the prevailing 
wages. The availability of central station power, its 
cost and the cost of fuel is of great importance to many 
industries; occasionally also is the influence of climate, 
particularly in its effect on the product in its various 
stages and the operations connected with its manufac¬ 
ture, and these factors should not be overlooked. 

Factors as to Specific Location.—When the general 
location of the new plant is under investigation, or 
when it has been determined, a very careful study 
should be made of the specific location or plant site. 
It is important that the site be well located in gener¬ 
ally agreeable surroundings, convenient to the labor 
supply and readily accessible. Physically its extent 
and configuration should be such as to provide, not only 
for the immediate proposed plant, but sufficient also 
to afford space for readily extending the plant at least 
to that ultimate growth which appears reasonably 
probable or possible from the present viewpoint. 

Due thought should be given to the cost of the site 
under consideration, not alone its purchase price, but 
its development cost; and this demands a knowl- 





REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED PLANT 63 


edge of whether or not it is subject to damage by flood 
and what, if any, means would be required for its pro¬ 
tection. Furthermore, one must know the lay of the 
land, the character of the soil and the comparative 
cost of the grading and foundations, the cost of rail¬ 
road spur or through sidings, the cost of wharves or 
docks, and the water supply, drainage, sewage and 
other demands and facilities; for all these must enter 
into the cost of the development even though they are 
generally considered as essentially a part of the 
“yard” or site improvements rather than of the plant 
proper. 


CHAPTER IV 


DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF TIIE PLANT 

Knowledge and Skill Required.—The foregoing 

chapters indicate the important relation the manufac¬ 
turing plant bears to the success of any industrial 
enterprise and the fact that a successful plant—re¬ 
ferring now to its physical elements, its arrangement, 
design, buildings and equipments—is, in the last 
analysis, that plant which will enable its operators 
to produce for one dollar, so to say, what other plants 
produce for two. 

In its first conception any logical scheme for the 
development of a manufacturing plant must repre¬ 
sent the embodiment of the knowledge of the plant’s 
operating organization reduced to an orderly com¬ 
prehensive and well defined basis. Its development 
on through and to the finished plant must be effected 
by the combination of this operating knowledge with 
and by the application of that special engineering 
knowledge, experience, and skill in the layout, design, 
construction, and equipment of industrial plants that 
may be acquired only through actual contact with the 
innumerable problems of such developments and an 
intimate working acquaintance with the most modern, 
effective, and practically efficient ways and means of I 
their solution. This work calls for imagination and 
vision, tempered, however, by a sound business sense 

64 






DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 65 


and the obsession that in this instance, at least, only 
the “practical” is of value and only that which is 
valuable is “practical.” 

Preliminary Information.—It has been stated and is 
here again emphasized that the first step in under¬ 
taking the development of an industrial plant, and in 
fact preparatory thereto, is to determine, define, and 
become thoroughly conversant with all the manufac¬ 
turing, operating, physical, and other needs and re¬ 
quirements of the particular industry in question 
which it is desirable to satisfy or that must be met 
and provided for in the proposed plant. This infor¬ 
mation should be obtained at no matter what cost, 
and one cannot lay too much stress upon the ne¬ 
cessity of having this knowledge at hand; it is abso¬ 
lutely essential to the success of the proposed devel¬ 
opment, and because of its great importance there is 
presented in conveniently tabulated form on pages 66 
to 69, a schedule of many of the influencing and deter¬ 
mining factors discussed in the preceding pages. 

When one has undertaken and completed the very 
extended investigations therein suggested, has ar¬ 
ranged and compiled the information obtained in 
logical, orderly form, and has made such a study and 
review thereof as to have a very thorough and com¬ 
prehensive grasp of the requirements of the business 
in question, then, and only then, is one prepared to 
undertake the study, the planning and the develop¬ 
ment of the proposed new plant which it is hoped 
will embody those specific requisites that will best 
adapt it to all the demands of the business it is to 
serve. 


66 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Schedule of Factors to be Investigated and Detailed 

Information to be Obtained 

i 

I. The Product and Output : 

1. Nature and kind of product. 

2. Number of different types. 

3. Description of grades and sizes. 

4. Production schedule of each. 

5. Stock and shipment schedules. 

6. Raw or other purchased materials. 

7. Purchasing and receiving schedules. 

8. Stock-room and use schedules. 

9. Schedules of proposed production. 

II. Manufacturing Processes: 

1. General description of the processes. 

2. Graphic diagram of processes and all manufactur¬ 

ing operations, including the travel of materials 
from receipt of raw to shipment of finished stock. 

3. Detailed description of each process and operation, 

quantities hajidled, operating periods. 

4. Means in use for standardizing operations and 

methods and systems of exact control. 

5. Schedule of materials or work in process at close 

of each day; quantities in each department await¬ 
ing process and finished for delivery to succeed¬ 
ing process or department. 

6. Conditions of product in process at close of each 

day and special requirements, if any, for carry¬ 
ing over without injury. 

III. Manufacturing Machinery: 

1. Nature and classification of machines. 

2. Description of work performed. 

3. Individual schedules of operation. 

4. Number of operators required for each. 

5. Theoretical and actual capacities of machines. 




DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 67 


6. Schedule of special requirements of each,—power, 

steam, air, water, and light. 

7. Diagram of each, showing general dimensions, 

methods of operation, and points of application 
and exhaust of power, steam, water, etc. 

IV. Auxiliary Manufacturing Equipment: 

1. Detailed schedule of the type, size, and purpose of 

work benches, operation and inspection tables, 
stock racks and bins, scales, and other fixtures. 

2. Schedule of portable or power-operated tools, jigs, 

fixtures, and other appliances, including a state¬ 
ment of their purposes. 

3. Description of means of handling materials from 

receipt to stock room, in stock, to and from 
manufacturing operations and processes to fin¬ 
ished stock and shipment. 

4. Schedule of all such trucks, cars, conveyors, hoists, 

elevators, cranes, etc., and purpose and service. 

5. All necessary diagrams of auxiliary equipments, 

showing important dimensions, methods of opera¬ 
tion and application of power, etc. 

6. Brief statements of the completeness or lack of 

auxiliary equipments and their adaptability, ef¬ 
fectiveness, and efficiency, and cause of failure. 

V. Special Requirements of Departments: 

1. Description of any special foundation, floor, wall, 

roof, or other unusual construction. 

2. Special protection required because of extra hazard¬ 

ous operations or processes. 

3. Schedule of the total quantities and nature of 

power, steam, air, water, etc., for machines, 
processes and equipment of each department. 

4. Description of all special ventilating, heating, light¬ 

ing, plumbing, and sewage requirements. 


G8 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


5. Schedule of stock room and storage facilities, tool 

rooms, inspection offices, foremen’s offices, etc., 
with descriptions of their needs and equipments. 

6. Schedule and description of operators’ service re¬ 

quirements, including drinking water and foun¬ 
tains, lavatories, toilets, shower baths and locker 
rooms, and accident or rest rooms. 

VI. Steam and Power Sources and Use: 

1. Complete schedule and description, detailed by de¬ 

partments, of all steam and power requirements, 
including such auxiliary demands as light, heat, 
ventilation, cold and hot water, compressed air. 

2. Graphic diagram and descriptive schedule of the 

present or proposed power plant, including the 
source, generation, distribution and utilization of 
coal, water, steam, power, light, etc. 

3. Complete analysis of present power costs, including 

analysis of water and coal, and a detailed esti¬ 
mate of such costs for the new plant. 

4. Description of operating methods and facilities and 

means of operating control in use or proposed. 

5. Schedule of the local central-station power and 

lighting company’s rates for power and lighting 
current and for steam if it may be purchased. 

VII. Operations and Operating Control: 

1. A complete and properly detailed graphic chart of 

the controlling or executive organization, with 
specific schedules of their respective duties and 
for what and to whom they are responsible. 

2. Complete graphic chart of the manufacturing or¬ 

ganization, describing the nature and extent of 
the duties of each departmental head or indi¬ 
vidual having authority and the number of em¬ 
ployees under such direction. 




DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OP THE PLANT 69 

3. Operating chart of the Planning and Production 

Department, with complete description of their 
methods in use or to be employed. 

4. Complete schedule of the number of operators em¬ 

ployed in each department grouped under “pro¬ 
ductive’’ classifications, with the necessary de¬ 
scriptions of their type, sex, characteristics, etc. 

5. Detailed statement of the service facilities and con¬ 

veniences afforded operators, noting any unusual 
necessities because of the nature, location, or 
other requirements of their work. 

** T ' • j * * » 

VIII. Plant Arrangement and Site: 

1. Plot plan, showing the location and extent of the 

site, the shipping facilities, and general layout. 

2. Detailed floor plans of each separate division and 

building, showing the floor area of each and the 
location, arrangement, and floor space of all ma¬ 
chines and other important equipments, stock 
rooms, assembling departments, offices, etc. 

3. Complete routing diagrams with the necessary de¬ 

tails as to materials in process, in stock at various 
places, the means of transportation, and other es¬ 
sentials, and the planning and production system. 

4. Where advisable or necessary, as in the case of 

plant rehabilitation and extension, complete 
plans of the power plant, power transmission 
system, steam and water lines, heating system, 
lighting system, etc., of existing plant. 

5. Outline sketches or diagrams of the proposed re¬ 

built or extended plant or of the new plant, in¬ 
sofar as they have been suggested or developed. 

6. Departmental outline sketches or diagrams embody¬ 

ing the suggestions of the department super¬ 
visors as to space, equipment, arrangement, etc. 



70 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Preliminary Schemes.—Assuming that the discussed 
preliminary investigations and determinations have 
been properly made and the data obtained lias been 
reduced to the working basis suggested, one has now 
in hand a very definite statement of the essential 
manufacturing and works-operating requirements of 
the business under consideration. What then are the 

i 

specific requisites of the manufacturing plant best 
adapted, in every way, to meet and satisfy these de¬ 
mands ? 

It is at this point that the studies of the proposed 
development or new plant must be taken up in a very 
definite manner, and the results of the preliminary 
investigations and other information and facts in 
hand must be brought to a tangible form in actual 
graphic layouts. 

In the preparation of the preliminary layouts or 
plans it is more often advisable to undertake first 
the laying out of that general arrangement of the 
entire plant, on the basis of approximate floor areas 
and seemingly logical arrangement of departments, 
which tentatively appears to embody the essential 
principles of straight-line travel, or direct routing of 
the materials in process of manufacture, and also the 
demands of economic transfer and handling of ma¬ 
terials throughout the works, irrespective of any re¬ 
stricting limitations. Such a layout may represent 
neither the ideal nor even the practical scheme, all 
factors considered, but it does afford a definite start¬ 
ing point and a tangible basis for the necessary sup¬ 
plementary studies. 

Following the completion of such a tentative or 





DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 71 

suggestive development, the layout should he supple¬ 
mented by departmental layouts and graphic operat¬ 
ing charts, worked up on a basis of elemental rout¬ 
ing and administrative requirements, to show clearly 
the arrangements of the several manufacturing equip¬ 
ments, the relation of the various manufacturing 
operations and processes, and the means and methods 
of executive direction and operating control. 

Definite General Plans.—A general study should now 
be made of the tentative preliminary plans by those 
responsible for the proposed plant and by those who 
are to direct its operations and share in its success. 
Such a review should disclose at least the more glar¬ 
ing weaknesses in the suggested scheme or schemes, 
and careful note should be made of all the excep¬ 
tions taken and suggestions made. The tentative 
plans should then be reviewed with careful reference 
to the notations in hand; and after the necessary 
corrections, modifications, and changes are made, 
the entire general scheme, as so far agreed upon, 
should be co-ordinated with all other necessary physi¬ 
cal features in a comprehensively detailed general 
plan which shows also the necessary railroad and 
other shipping facilities as well as the essential prop¬ 
erty requirements. 

The entire plan should then be studied from the 
basis of every conceivable operating requirement, 
not only the present but future requirements insofar 
as they may be discounted. This will undoubtedly 
lead to many revisions and perhaps to alternate 
schemes from which will finally evolve the one plan 
which seems really to fulfill every need. When this 


72 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


has been prepared it should be followed by outline 
drawings of the buildings and equipments and, with 
these as a basis, estimates of each should be pre¬ 
pared so that investment, “fixed charges/’ and operat¬ 
ing costs may be computed and compared with those 
of the present plant and a comparison of probable 
profits made with those of the existing works. 

Then, if a decision is made to proceed with the de¬ 
velopment of the proposed plant, it necessitates, in 
the case of an entirely new plant, unless one has al¬ 
ready been determined upon, an investigation of loca¬ 
tions and sites. This, as stated, is often of great 
importance in the success or failure of an enterprise 
and demands extended study. The final determina¬ 
tion of location and the selection of a site will prob¬ 
ably require important revisions of the preliminary 
general plans, and as soon as these are completed 
they should be submitted to a final searching discus¬ 
sion and approval by the officials in control.- 

It is these finally modified, revised, and approved 
general plans that form the tangible basis of the pro¬ 
posed plant development. Much depends upon their 
completeness and the correctness of the reasoning 
and conclusions which they embody, for it is with 
these plans in hand that one is ready to undertake 
the development and preparation of the many de¬ 
tailed plans and specifications involved and required 
in the building of the plant. 

Developing the General Scheme.—It is hardly feas- 
ible, in a study of the scope herein presented, to set 
forth in any adequate way all the factors involved, 
the lines of reasoning followed, and the methods ap- 







DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 73 


plied in the planning of plants in general or even 
for any one single industry. It is possible, however, 
to present some idea of the importance of some of 
the main factors involved in plant layout and design, 
and to show something of their inter-relationship and 
far-reaching influence by a discussion of the course 
of reasoning followed in the application of some of 
the general principles applied in the working up and 
development of a number of modern industrial plants 
which have been laid out substantially in accordance 
with the methods advocated, and which have proven 
exceptionally efficient and satisfactory in operation. 

Routing Diagrams.—The basis for, not only the 
preliminary layout of any general scheme but for 
all departmental developments and the final, co-ordin¬ 
ated, complete plan, is the “graphic chart’* or “rout¬ 
ing diagram.” This is the only logical way to begin 
any such work, and this method offers, not only the 
most ready means of laying down the known neces¬ 
sities, but it affords the most helpful guide in de¬ 
termining all the requirements of the plant and the best 
ways and means of meeting such demands. In the 
end it provides, in conjunction with the graphic plan, 
the only possible method of presenting a tangible 
statement of just exactly what is proposed for and 
in the new plant, the scope and sequence of its opera¬ 
tions, and its possible operating results. 

In its simplest form the routing diagram indicates, 
in conjunction with the graphic plan, the paths or 
routes followed by materials of manufacture from 
their incoming receipt in “crude” form to and their 
travel through the manufacturing plant and various 


74 TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 1. GENERAL ARRANGEMENT CF A SMALL PARTS MANUFAC¬ 
TURING AND ASSEMBLING PLANT. 

processing operations to the finished stock warehouse 
and thence their delivery to outgoing shipment. In 
its amplified form, such a plan and routing diagram, 
or series of such diagrams, may be made to define 
and show clearly the effectiveness of the plant layout 
in every particular of plant operation. 

Elemental Examples.—As illustrating both the pur¬ 
pose and the use of the graphic plan and the rout¬ 
ing diagram, there are presented in Figures 1 to 5, 
sketches showing, in skeleton outline, varied general 
schemes ol plant arrangements and the departmental 
travel of materials and products, from receipt to ship¬ 
ment therethrough. 

Small Parts Factory.—Figure 1 may be termed a 






































































DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 75 


typical layout of a “Small Parts” factory; that is, 
for example, a plant manufacturing such articles as 
intercommunicating telephone outfits. 

The materials of manufacture used in this plant 
are purchased in part in their “raw” state, others in 
finished or semi-finished state; many of them are re¬ 
ceived in less than carload lots, and much of the fin¬ 
ished product is forwarded in small shipments; so 
that a large part of the receipts and deliveries are 
made by truck between the plant and the freight 
station. 

The plant, however, is so fortunately situated as 
to have the advantages of a railroad spur siding. 
This affords facilities for the easy handling of occa¬ 
sional carload shipments that may be received or for¬ 
warded, and it assures also those direct rail connec¬ 
tions which the possible future growth of the plant 
may demand as a real necessity. 

Incoming materials, whether direct in carload lots 
or by truck, are received and stored in the Stock 
Room, “A.” From “stock,” certain materials are 
issued to the Manufacturing Department, “B,” and 
after manufacture are passed to the Assembling De¬ 
partment, “C,” which also receives direct from the 
Stock Room, “A,” certain parts which are purchased 
in their finished state. In Department “C,” the sev¬ 
eral required parts delivered thereto are assembled, 
and after the instruments are finished and tested they 
are sent forward into the Finished Stock Department, 
“D,” where they are packed for delivery, held in 
temporary storage, and thence finally shipped forward. 

It is observed that the plant buildings which, ex- 


76 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



cepting the warehouses, are of the “saw-tooth” type 
of roof construction and run east and west, may be 
readily extended to more than double the present 
capacity, and the warehouses are so constructed that 
they may be extended or an additional story may be 
added at any time as may be desired. It may also 
be noted that the Factory Office is very centrally 
located, and that the employees’ main entrance, which 
is adjacent thereto, leads directly to the passageway 
connecting the two manufacturing departments. The 
main entrance door is on the east side of the office 
and the exit on the west side. 

In this passageway, back of the offices, are located 
the time clocks and bulletin and mail boards. These 
are affixed to the wall of the offices, while across the 
aisle are convenient sanitary lavatories. 



























































































DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 77 

North of the Main Building and located centrally 
thereof is the boiler room; this contains only a low- 
pressure unit for plant heating, as 44 central station” 
current is purchased for operating the machines 
which are all driven by electric motors. Adjoining 
one side of the boiler room are ample locker rooms 
and toilets. 

Lace Making Plant.—Figure 2 presents in outline 
the general layout and departmental arrangement of 
a lace-making plant and shows also the convenient 
location of both the power plant and machine shop, 
each, in this instance, a necessary adjunct; the former 
because steam and hot water are required for finish¬ 
ing—washing and bleaching—and the exhaust from 
the simple non-condensing engine, direct-connected to 
the alternator which generates the electric power for 
operating all machines, is ample for this purpose and 
affords considerable economy thereby; the latter be¬ 
cause the large complicated Nottingham looms re¬ 
quire a fairly complete machine shop equipment for 
their maintenance and the making of extra parts 
which otherwise must be imported. 

Following the paths of material-travel through this 
plant, it is noted that raw materials are received in 
part by rail and in part by truck in Warehouse 44 A.” 
From stock, 44 A,” all yarns are delivered to the Yarn 
Preparing Room, 44 B,” and the beams, or bobbins and 
quills, are then forwarded as required to the Weaving 
Department, 44 C.” The lace is woven in many nar¬ 
row strips held together by running threads to form 
a continuous wide sheet of several yards in length. 
As these beams are completed the lace is removed and 


78 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


sent to the Finishing Room, Here it is washed, 

bleached, dried, and stripped and wound on cards, 
whence it is forwarded to the Finished Stock Room, 
“E,” for packing and shipment. 

It is noted that all materials follow a very direct 
routing line from raw to finished stock, and to facili¬ 
tate their travel a main passageway is partitioned 
off the Finishing Room, thus offording unobstructed 
access to and between Departments A, B, D, and E. 
From this passageway a through main aisle, ten feet 
wide, leads directly to the main factory entrance; 
this provides for the main lines of travel for both 
materials and operators. 

The Offices, “F,” are situated at the north end of 
the plant and 20 feet back of the sidewalk line. The 
property is enclosed with a woven wire fence and 
separate gates are provided for the office, factory 
employees, and trucking entrances. Adjoining the 
main office is the Designing Room, “G,” where the 
elaborate lace designs are developed and detailed pat¬ 
tern sheets worked up for the Card Cutting Depart¬ 
ment, “II.” 11 

Buildings “B” and “C” are of the 44 saw-tooth” 
root type, the others have the nearly flat continuous j 
type of roof. But skylights are provided for build¬ 
ings “F,” “ G, ” and “H,” and special monitor ven- | 
tilating skylights are installed over the Finishing 
Plant, “D.” 1 

Reference to the plot plan shows that the plant 
may readily be extended; buildings “A,” “D,” and 
“E” south; the main building “B,” building “C,” 
and the offices east. The power house is sufficiently 



DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 79 


large to allow for the installation of the additional 
steam and power units, while the machine shop equip¬ 
ment is practically sufficient as it stands to meet the 
demands of a plant twice the present capacity. 

Space is provided for reserve coal storage, which 
is adequate to protect the needs of the increased 
plant. At the present time coal is dumped into a 
track hopper and delivered by elevator and distribut¬ 
ing chute to the coal pocket adjoining the power 
house; with a doubling of the plant this elevator 
would be rearranged to deliver to a bin over the 
boiler house, as well as to the coal pocket and a 
reserve storage pile on the opposite side of the track. 

Foundry and Machine Shop.—Figure 3 indicates in 
outline the general layout and arrangement of a foun¬ 
dry and machine shop manufacturing machine tools. 

All incoming carload lot materials are received on 
the spur railroad siding. Foundry materials, such as 
pig iron and scrap metals, are stocked in the “yard”; 
while coke, molding and core sands, and other sup¬ 
plies are unloaded direct into the material sheds. 
Deliveries are made by elevator to the cupola charg¬ 
ing floor and by wheelbarrows to the foundry floor 
and core room, Building “A.” 

All castings made are sent to the Cleaning Room 
and from there to Raw Stock Storage, “B,” where 
also all other purchased materials are received. From 
this stock room heavy castings are forwarded in lots 
to the first floor of the Machine Shop, “C,” while 
other materials and parts are sent by elevator to the 
auxiliary second and third floor stock rooms, and 
others are sent by truck to the Final Assembly Floor, 



80 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 3. GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF A FOUNDRY AND 

MACHINE SHOP. 

All buildings except foundry and garage are three stories in height. 


“E.” The heavy castings, such as the machine beds 
and bases, are finished on the first floor of the ma¬ 
chine shop and then are delivered to the final as¬ 
sembling room adjoining. 

Other parts, finished and assembled on both the 
second and third floors, are delivered in lots to the 
Finished Parts Stock Room, “D”; so that materials 
for the final assembling of the machine tools are 
drawn from Stock Rooms “B” and “D.” As the 
machines are finished they are forwarded to the 































































































DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 81 


Finished Stock Hoorn, “F,” where they are boxed 
for shipment and forwarded, largely by truck deliv¬ 
ery from the adjoining platform or trucked through 
the passageway, to the platform adjoining Building 
“B,” for carload shipment. 

Referring to the diagram, it is seen that all ma¬ 
terials have almost a direct line of travel from their 
receipt to and through the several manufacturing de¬ 
partments, final assembling, and shipping. It is in¬ 
teresting also to observe the other general features 
of the plant arrangement; that the relative location 
of all departments is good; that the Office Building, 
“G,” is conveniently situated; that the employee’s 
entrance is favorably placed, and that the means of 
interdepartmental communication are very direct, not 
only in the matter of the transfer of materials, but 
also as regards the travel of employees. 

The Office, “G,” located approximately twenty feet 
back of the street, has its own central entrance, while 
between this and the Machine Shop Building is the 
employee’s entrance and the driveway. The em¬ 
ployee’s walkway leads to the rear of Department, 
“E,” from which there are clear passageways to the 
stock rooms, the foundry, the assembling room, the 
heavy machine shop floor and, centrally of all, to the 
main stairway and elevator which lead to the upper 
floors and land at a point between the stock and tool 
rooms, over Department “B” and “F” and nearly 
midway of the manufacturing floors. 

The Office Building “G,” is a two-story structure 
with a covered bridge connecting the second floors 
of this and the Machine Shop Building, and it is but 


82 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 4. GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF A FOUNDRY, MACHINE, STEEL 

PLATE, AND SHEET METAL SHOP. 

Note the careful attention given to the travel of materials. 





























































































































































































DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 83 


a short distance from this second floor entrance of 
the shop to the connecting stairways and elevators. 
This bridge also serves as a covered passageway from 
the ground floor of the office to the shops. 

The entire plant may be readily extended without 
unfavorably affecting the general scheme; the foun¬ 
dry building may be extended to the west and the 
machine shop to the north. 

Foundry, Machine, and Plate Shop.—Figure 4 rep¬ 
resents a radically different layout from that of the 
plant just discussed. It presents, in outline, the gen¬ 
eral arrangement of a Foundry and Machine Shop 
combined with a Steel Plate and Sheet Metal Shop 
for the manufacture of such a product as fans and 
blowers. 

The main plant buildings, including the office and 
the castings storage buildings, are all two stories in 
height; but it is possible to follow the routing of ma¬ 
terials and work quite readily from the one outlined 
floor plan. 

Travel of Materials.—The bulk of all materials and 
products are received or shipped from the through 
railroad siding. Foundry materials are delivered 
from the cars to pig and scrap storage piles or to 
the Material Sheds, “X.” P>ar iron and steel shaft¬ 
ing is delivered by industrial railway cars to the 
Stock Shed, “Y,” adjoining Building, “B.” 

All castings from the Foundry,‘ ‘ A, ’ ’ are forwarded 
to the Casting Storage Building, “B,” which is a 
two-storv structure with pattern shop and vaults on 
the second floor. From this stock, “B,” the heavy 
castings, such as fan and blower bases and standards, 


84 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


are sent on order to the machine shop on the first 
floor of Building “C”; bar stock for shafts are sent 
on order from Storage, “Y,” to the first floor of the 
Machine Shop Building, “D”; and as these parts 
and shafts are finished, they are delivered by hand 
truck and elevator to the stock room on the second 
floor of Building “D.” 

Small castings, such as pulleys, hearings, brackets, 
and other fan and blower parts, are forwarded on 
order from Castings Storage, “B,” to the second floor 
of the machine shop, Building “C,” and from there 
as they are finished to the adjacent stock room, “D.’ 

Incoming steel plates and sheet metal are put di¬ 
rectly, as unloaded from the cars, into Storage, “Z,” 
from whence they are taken as required to the Metal 
Working Shops, “0” and “F.” Here they are cut 
and worked to pattern and forwarded by hand truck 
and elevator to the Metal Finishing and Assembling 
Shop on the second floor of Building “G.” 

All incoming purchased parts and supplies, finished 
or semi-finished, are received at the Main Stock Room 
on the first floor of Building “E,” one-third of which 
is used for these materials and also for small manu¬ 
factured parts and supplies that are being constantly 
shipped out on a maintenance and repair rush orders; 
the other part of this floor is used for the storage 
of finished fans and blowers awaiting shipment. 

The final assembling of finished machines is made 
on the second floor of Building “F,” the plate and 
sheet metal parts being drawn from the Sheet Metal 
Finishing and Assembling Department, “G,” and the 
machined parts, such as bases, standards, bearings, 


DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 85 


shafts and pulleys, from the Stock Department, “D;” 
while the purchased parts come directly from the first 
floor stock room, “E,” in the case of finished ma¬ 
terials, or from thence by way of the second floor 
machine shop, “C,” and stock room, “D,” in the 
case of semi-finished materials. 

After the machines are assembled in Department 
“F,” they are forwarded to the Inspection and Test¬ 
ing Room, “E,” whence they go into the Paint Room. 
After being painted and finally finished they are de¬ 
livered by hand truck and elevator to the finished 
Machine and Main Stock Room on the first floor of 
Building “E” to await delivery and shipment by car¬ 
load lot or by truck. 

The crating and boxing of the finished product is 
done in the small building located between the ship¬ 
ping room and the lumber storage and cutting room 
which adjoins the plate and sheet metal storage shed. 

Features of Arrangement.—There are several fea¬ 
tures about the layout of this plant which are rather 
interesting. The buildings, of brick and steel con¬ 
struction, are practically fire-proof, and no buildings, 
excepting the foundry, are more than sixty feet wide; 
so that with large steel sash affording more than 60 
per cent of glass area, they are exceptionally well 
lighted throughout. Tn the main buildings the ground 
floors are wood block on a concrete base, the upper 
floors throughout are two-inch by six-inch plank laid 
vertically on spiking strips bolted to the steel floor 
beams. The roofs are three-inch plank with a tar 
and gravel covering. 

Four outside fire-proofed towers contain elevators, 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


86 

stair-wells, and toilet rooms. Hence, no materials in 
the main plant have to be trucked more than one 
hundred and fifty feet to an elevator, and the great¬ 
est distance any employee has to travel from any 
point in the buildings to a stairwell, or to a lavatory 
or toilet room, is less than one hundred and fifty feet, 
while the average in each instance thus noted would 
probably not exceed, if it would equal, one hundred 
feet. 

The entire site is enclosed with a woven-wire 
factory fence, and there is only one main entrance in 
addition to the two railroad siding gates. Entrance 
to the offices is directly from the street; the main 
gateway to the west is for trucking, and adjoining it 
and a part thereof is the employees’ entrance through 
which all the factory workers enter or leave through 
the covered passage adjoining the gate-keeper’s house 
where in passing they pick up or deposit their brass 
checks. 

A wood-block paved roadway extends north from 
the west entrance gate to the railroad siding and 
across the entire rear of the plant, returning to the 
east gate. The entire yard between Buildings “A,” 
“B,” and “C” is similarly paved, and this affords 
easy travel for all transfer trucks in the carrying of 







plant material. 

The general offices occupy a three-story building, 
and a covered passageway connects the first floor of 
this building with that of the main factory. A cov¬ 
ered bridge likewise connects the second floors, thus 
giving ready access to the center of the plant. The 
offices occupy two floors of the building, while the 





DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 87 


third is given over to record and filing rooms and 
to luncheon and rest rooms for the office force. 

The main factory—that is, Buildings “C,” “D,” 
“E,” “F,” and “G,”—while only two stories in 
height, is designed for the later addition of a third 
story. With this in view the steel framing, support¬ 
ing the roof of each building, is similar to that carry¬ 
ing the second floor; so that when such an addition 
is made the rather flat roofs with their special nail¬ 
ing strips which, to give the necessary roof slope, are 
secured to the steel beam spiking strips, may be 
easily removed and the third floor installed without 
further change other than the removal of the wall 
copings in building up the additional story. 

These buildings may also be extended by an addi¬ 
tion to Building “F,” which may be prolonged for 
a length of one hundred feet east, and another wing 
thereto, similar to Building “G,” may be added. 
The foundry, Building “A,” and the castings storage 
and pattern shop, Building “B,” may also be readily 
extended for a considerable distance to the west. 

Power and Heating.—The entire plant is operated 
by electric motors, and central station current is pur¬ 
chased for both power and lighting service. The 
transmission lines, G,600-volt current, are brought to 
a transformer room adjoining the boiler house; from 
the transformers secondary feeders are carried to the 
main switchboard in the adjoining room and from 
thence distribution is made throughout the works. 

Steam for heating the entire plant is generated at 
low-pressure, and condensation is brought back to the 
boilers by the vacuum-return system. The boilers 




88 TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 






















































































































































































DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 89 


were installed in two units; the smaller of these was 
proportioned to carry the load during the ordinary 
fall and spring heating seasons, while the larger was 
designed for the entire plant load during the coldest 
weather. Such an arrangement was provided in order 
to afford flexibility of operation and also to meet the 
requirements of any considerable plant addition with¬ 
out the extension of the boiler plant. 

The main plant and office buildings are heated by 
the air-blast system—fresh air drawn in by fans over 
“vento,” (sectional cast iron) heating stacks, and 
forced through ducts to the several distributing out¬ 
lets which are so placed and arranged as to effect 
a general distribution and easy diffusion of properly 
tempered fresh air. The foundry and other buildings 
are heated by radiators placed along the walls be¬ 
low the windows, although in the foundry these are 
augmented by vertical radiator sections supported 
from two sides of each of the central columns which 
support the crane runways. 

Fruit Products Plant.—Figure 5 shows in plan the 
general scheme of a modern 4 ‘pure food” plant; in 
this particular instance, one producing fruit extracts, 
syrups, preserves, nut butters, and like condiments. 

There are some unusual features about this plant 
which it may be interesting to note. All the plant 
buildings are constructed of reinforced concrete; the 
main manufacturing plant, the offices, and the service 
building are each four stories in height, the first with 
basement, and all of flat-slab type with brick curtain 
walls and a high percentage of glass area. The four- 
story, or three-story-and-basement, cold storage build- 


90 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ing and the warehouse are both of the beam and 
girder type, designed for heavy loads; the curtain 
walls are twelve-inch hollow tile with insulating pro¬ 
tection on the inner side, finished with a protecting 
face of hard surfaced cement. The glass area of 
these two buildings is very limited, and the windows 
in every case are double or triple-glazed. 

All of the other buildings are but one story in 
height, excepting the Storage Building, “A,” which 
is a two-story-and-basement structure with eight feet 
clearance between floors and ceiling beams, and the 
Cooperage Building which is one-story and basement. 
The roofs of the manufacturing, service, warehouse, 
power plant, and storage buildings are concrete with 
tar and gravel covering; the cold storage and ware¬ 
house roofs are concrete and hollow tile with tar and 
gravel finish, while those of the offices, cooperage 
building and garage are “Ludovici” tile. 

The main floors throughout the main manufactur¬ 
ing building are rock asphaltum with sanitary coved 
wall bases. The basement floor is of concrete, as are 
also the floors of the storage building, the garage, 
and the basement of the cooperage building, all being 
finished with a hard “dustless” top coat. The main 
floor of the cooperage building and of the machine 
shop is wood-block on concrete; the boiler house floor 
is part concrete and part vitrified brick; that of the 
engine room is eight-inch square red tile. The office 
floors, excepting the laboratory, are concrete covered 
with cork tile; the laboratory floor is rock asphaltum. 
The floors of the service building are all of concrete, 
but in part covered with tile. 






DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 91 


All of the interior walls and ceilings of all the plant 
buildings, including the cold storage and warehouse 
buildings and the power house, are painted white; 
the manufacturing and service buildings are finished 
in white enamel to the floor bases; the office walls are 
slightly tinted and finished flat. The other buildings 
are painted two coats of mill white with a hard gloss 
surface above the window sill height, and below this 
level they are finished with a green enamel dado. 

Travel of Materials.—As regards the layout of the 
plant and the general scheme of materials routing, it 
may be observed that all such incoming materials as 
barrels, shook lumber, coal, sugar, nuts, and certain 
syrups and fruits are received in carload lots on the 
spur railroad siding and are delivered to their re¬ 
spective stores. 

Shook lumber for packing boxes and cases is sent 
by roller conveyor to the basement of the warehouse, 
where it is stacked and is later delivered by conveyor 
to the packing and shipping room floor. Sugars and 
other “non-perishable” products are unloaded at the 
receiving platform of the Cold Storage Building and 
are forwarded by conveyor to storage in the base¬ 
ment of the manufacturing plant; this conveyor, 
which is in an underground tunnel, is extended also 
to the Storage Building, “A.” 

Nuts are unloaded at the platform of the Storage 
Building “A,” and are delivered bv conveyor to the 
second floor of this building where the main stores of 
this commodity are carried; later they are forwarded 
by the tunnel conveyor to the elevator of the manu¬ 
facturing plant for distribution to their proper de- 


92 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


partments. This conveyor is also used for the return 
of crates, bags, and other returnable carriers from 
the manufacturing plant to storage on the first floor 
of Building “A,” whence they are later loaded lor 
shipment. Jars, bottles and other like containers 
for the manufactured product are also forwarded 
from the unloading platforms to stock in the base¬ 
ment of the manufacturing building. . 

Fruits, syrups and other perishables are received in 
part by .carload lots, and at certain seasons in very 
large part by truck and wagon deliveries. For this 
reason the yard between the tracks and on each side 

w 

thereof is paved with wood block on a concrete base. 
All these incoming materials, or “raw products,’’ are 
unloaded at the platform of the Cold Storage Build¬ 
ing, “B”; those for immediate use are forwarded by 
a “sidewalk” conveyor from this platform to the re¬ 
ceiving room adjoining both the Cold Storage and 
Manufacturing Plant Buildings, at which point they 
are transferred by elevator to their respective depart¬ 
ments. This conveyor is entirely housed over, and 
the passageway thus afforded is sufficiently wide to 
allow for an eight foot walk or truckway throughout 
its entire length. 

Fruits and other products not for immediate use 
are delivered by conveyors to any desired floor of the 
Cold Storage Building. In this Building there is a 
wide passageway on each floor between the easterly 
wall and the cold storage rooms, running the entire 
length of the building, so that “stock” from cold 
storage may be delivered directly, or by elevator, to 
any floor of the manufacturing plant. 



DEVELOPING TIIE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 93 


Processing- Operations.—In the manufacturing plant 
the processing operations are departmentalized ac¬ 
cording to classifications of product, the nature of the 
operation, the equipment used, and the seasonal se¬ 
quences of the product, with the intent of effecting 
continued operation of practically the entire plant 
and its equipment and the employment of its opera¬ 
tives throughout the year. 

Very few of the products are worked by hand at 
any stage of the manufacturing processes, and after 
being steamed or cooked, none comes into direct con¬ 
tact with the operators. All sorting and working- 
tables are equipped with sanitary tops, and all oper¬ 
ators must pass a personal inspection whenever en¬ 
tering upon any manufacturing floor at whatever 
time of day. 

Heating and Ventilating.—All processing equip¬ 
ments operating under steam are grouped at two cen¬ 
tral points on each floor and are enclosed with terra 
cotta block, concrete, and glass partitions. Fresh 
tempered air is supplied to those departments, and 
the heat and vapors from the rooms are exhausted by 
means of fans and ducts which discharge into cen¬ 
trally-located stacks with outlets well above the roof 
of the main building. 

The main building is heated and ventilated by 
means of washed and tempered air. The air condi¬ 
tioning equipment is located in the basement of this 
building and distribution is made through built-in 
wall and column ducts. 

The other buildings, excepting the cold storage 
plant and the main warehouse, are heated by means 


94 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


of wall radiators and exhaust steam. The main ware¬ 
house is maintained at a fairly even moderate temper¬ 
ature by means of an air-blast system which draws 
fresh air over vento stacks for heating and over re¬ 
frigerator coils for cooling, distributing the air 
throughout the several floors. The temperature of 
the cold storage plant is maintained by means of a 
complete refrigeration installation, with a limited 
amount of heating surface for the prevention of a 
freezing temperature during the extreme winter 
weather. 

Power, Steam and Hot Water.—In laying out the 
power plant careful consideration was given to the 
possibilities of maximum economies, not only in the 
operations pertaining to the development of the elec¬ 
tric power required by the mechanical equipment of 
the plant, but to the utilization of waste heat and 
exhaust steam as well as for the heating of the large 
quantities of hot water required in the various pro¬ 
cesses and for the many boiling, cooking, steaming, 
and drying operations of manufacture. 

The boilers are equipped with mechanical stokers 
for burning buckwheat coal; this coal, received in 
hopper bottomed cars, is dumped into the track hop¬ 
per and is delivered by elevator and conveyor to a 
500-ton steel-concrete bin over the boiler house, or 
by elevator and distributing chutes to reserve coal 
storage. From the overhead bin the coal is auto¬ 
matically fed to the stoker magazines through self¬ 
registering weighing scales and chutes. 

Ashes are automatically delivered from the ash pits 
under the boiler floor by conveyor and elevator to 


DEVELOPING TIIE LAYOUT OF THE PLANT 95 


an overhead 50-ton ash bin, which may be discharged 
into railroad cars or trucks for disposal. 

All the gases from the boilers pass through a fuel 
economizer on their way to the stack, and this af¬ 
fords a supply of hot water for boiler feed and plant 
use that is further augmented by the utilization of 
exhaust steam, both in the power plant and in the 
manufacturing plant. In the latter, steel tanks con¬ 
veniently located maintain a storage of hot water 
under automatic regulation, and this may be drawn 
for use at 150 degrees or at 200 degrees,—the hotter 
water passing through a steam heater on its way 
from the tank to discharge. 

Two power-generating units are installed to afford 
flexibility of operation and the maintenance of the 
greatest possible economies under all conditions of 
manufacturing, whether at full or part load. These 
units are simple, non-condensing engines, direct-con¬ 
nected to 3 phase, 60 cycle, 440-volt alternators; they 
are run under a back pressure of approximately 10 
pounds, and the exhaust mains, which are in dupli¬ 
cate, are carried to a central point of distribution in 
the manufacturing plant. At this point of distri¬ 
bution provision is made for the automatic flow of 
“live” or high-pressure steam under reduced pres¬ 
sure, whenever the utilization of steam in the manu¬ 
facturing operations is in excess of the available ex¬ 
haust. 

All steam for manufacturing, as well as for plant 
heating, is utilized by indirect methods, and all water 
of condensation is returned to the boiler feed supply 
in the power house. The steam, water, refrigerating, 


96 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


and other pipes from the power plant are carried 
through large underground tunnels to the manufac¬ 
turing plant, the cold storage building, and the ware- 
, house; distribution and returns between the other 
buildings is by means of thoroughly insulated under¬ 
ground construction. 

General Conveniences.—It is interesting to note by 
reference to the diagram of plant arrangement, that 
main elevators, stairways, entrances and exits are 
conveniently located and that one may readily pass, 
entirely under cover, from the employees’ entrance 
or from the office building to any floor of any of the 
plant buildings, except to the garage. It is also 
observed that the main service equipments for the 
employees, particularly of the manufacturing plant, 
are concentrated in the four-story Service Building, 
“K.” Here are provided ample locker and dressing 
rooms, comfortable smoking and rest rooms, and 
modern sanitarv wash and toilet conveniences. These 
equipments are supplemented in the main manufac¬ 
turing plant with sanitary drinking fountains and 
porcelain wash bowls for casual use during operating 
hours. Additional service facilities are provided in 
the other buildings which are more remote from the 
main service building. 



CHAPTER V 


AN EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 

Textile-Leather Making Plant.—The application of 
the general principles of plant development are in¬ 
dicated, in a very general way, in the preceding ele¬ 
mental studies. Their amplification may, perhaps, be 
most readily brought out by a complete discussion of 
the main physical features of a plant of compara¬ 
tively simple arrangement, and wherein the manu¬ 
facturing operations are not generally complicated. 

No better illustration may be had than a plant 
manufacturing leather finished cloth, or as this pro¬ 
duct is generally termed “textile” or “artificial 
leather”, now used so extensively for automobile up¬ 
holstery and other purposes. 

The manufacture of the improved grades of textile 
leathers on a large scale is a comparatively recent 
development, and the market demands for this ma¬ 
terial have grown so rapidly that the few manufac¬ 
turers who were turning out this product in small 
quantities, and as a “side line” from laboratory-like 
departments and by more or less experimental meth¬ 
ods and machinery, had to grow, almost over night, 
out of their experimental methods and departments 
into real manufacturing plants and large production. 

The Development Proposed.—One progressive manu¬ 
facturer who, in a very small plant, had produced a 

97 




98 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


textile leather of a superior quality and had devel¬ 
oped some of his special processes and certain essen¬ 
tial manufacturing machines to a very satisfactory 
state for his then production of 250 yards per day, 
decided eventually that the time had arrived to build 
a plant specifically for this product and capable of 
turning out 1,000 lineal yards an hour, or 10,000 
yards per day of fifty-four inch wide leather cloth— 
which is equivalent to a daily output of eight miles 
of thirty-six inch cloth in ten hours. 

This was not an off-hand decision: It was pred¬ 
icated, first, upon the conclusions of exhaustive en¬ 
gineering investigations regarding the possibilities of 
translating costly hand processes into machine and 
mechanical treatments, the substitution of mechanical 
and automatically operated means for the handling 
of the product throughout the plant and from process 
to process in place of hand labor, the development of 
dyeing, drying, baking, curing, and finishing methods 
that would greatly shorten the time required for its 
manufacture, and also upon carefully elaborated de¬ 
terminations and calculations as to the cost of the 
proposed finished product. 

Secondly, it proved possible to interest some of the 
large automobile manufacturers in the product and in 
the proposed plant to the extent that they agreed to 
execute contracts for two-thirds of the plant’s pro¬ 
posed output, and to purchase all their requirements 
therefrom, for a period of three years, on the basis of 
a maximum cost subject to the maintenance of an 
equally high standard of quality for the product as 
then existed. 



EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 99 

In the third place, and of no less importance, ample 
capital was secured for the enterprise; and $500,000, 
which it was estimated the proposed plant would cost, 
was set aside for the purpose of purchasing the neces¬ 
sary plant site and for building and equipping the 
complete plant required for the production of 10,000 
yards of “artificial” or “textile” leather per day. 

The Preliminary Scheme.—Preceding the decision 
to undertake the development and construction of the 
proposed plant, the engineers, in consultation with the 
manufacturer, had evolved an apparently logical gen¬ 
eral scheme of plant layout that subdivided itself 
naturally into three distinct and parallel manufactur¬ 
ing groups, which may diagramatically be noted thus: 



Gaoup'A 


Groups “A” and “B” represented two distinct and 
widely separated classes of material preparation. 
Group “A” included, besides the power plant, the oil 









































100 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


and chemical treating plants for the production of the 
materials to be applied to the cloth which serve in 
place of hides as the base of the product. Group 
included the cloth dyeing and preparatory treatment 
plants. In each instance the chemicals and cloth from 
point of receipt to prepared stock followed straight 
lines of travel, and were transferred to the main 
manufacturing plant, Group “C”, at the desired 
points of application. 

In the manufacturing plant, all operations, from the 
first manufacturing process to the shipping of the 
finished product followed in ever progressing se¬ 
quence, so that the travel of the goods was in a 
straight line from start to finish. 

This scheme of plant arrangement seemed to em¬ 
body many excellent features and was accepted as a 
tentative plan pending the selection and purchase of 
a plant site. 

Selection of Plant Site.—There were many varying 
opinions regarding what was and what was not a 
desirable site; and many locations in the city, within 
which the manufacturer had established his small 
plant, were suggested and discarded. Strange as it 
may seem, the location of the then existing small 
plant did not appeal to them. This leased plant, 
which comprised but one two-story building, 75 feet 
wide and 125 feet long, with a rear adjoining boiler 
house, was situated on a small plot of ground, 
approximately 150 by 250 feet; but it was located 
within the city limits, in the midst of a growing 
manufacturing district, convenient to a large labor 
center, and it fronted on a main highway with fairly 









EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 101 


good street car service. Furthermore the plot itself 
was but one corner of a tract of approximately eight 
acres of land having, including the small plot, a front¬ 
age of approximately 500 feet on the main highway 
and a depth of nearly 800 feet to the main tracks of 
one of the trunk line railroads. It was in the neigh¬ 
borhood of prosperous factories, and in fact it was 
adjoined on each side by very attractive manufac¬ 
turing plants. 

The “objections’’ to this property were the sup- 
postion that it was held at abnormal values by two 
or three estates and could not be purchased on any 
attractive basis; that the site, at a level three or four 
feet below the street grade, was swampy and the four 
to seven feet of top soil was underlaid with a water- 
saturated sand or quicksand that would necessitate 
over-costly foundations; that the drainage sewer in 
the main street was at a level which would probably 
prevent its use by the plant and particularly so as it 
was flooded from time to time; that no sanitary sewer 
was available for use, and that there was no available 
water supply for the plant’s demand, estimated at 
something like 100,000 gallons per day, except the 
city service which could be obtained only at a high 
rate. 

Barring these objections, everyone granted that the 
site might work out very well, but the engineers con¬ 
tended that if the property could be obtained at a 
reasonable figure it would afford an ideal site for the 
proposed plant. They were convinced, from an ex¬ 
amination and tests of the soil and information ob¬ 
tained from other nearby plant owners, that no un- 


102 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


























































































































































EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 103 



FIG 7. PERSPECTIVE OF TEXTILE LEATHER PLANT. 

usual foundations would be required; that ample 
water for manufacturing purposes could be obtained 
by drilling one or two artesian wells; that drainage 
and sewage could be carried to a septic tank, auto¬ 
matically ejecting and lifting the discharge to a level 
from which it could be piped to a small brook at the 
rear of the property, and that the cost of running in 
railroad spur sidings and grading the property 
would not demand any over large or unreasonable ex¬ 
pense. 

It was further argued that the manfacture of the 
product, as then carried on in the one existing build¬ 
ing, could be continued, and that production could be 
increased from time to time with the completion of 
certain buildings of the proposed plant and then be 
carried on entirely in the completed portions ot the 
new plant while the old building was being remodelled 
and revamped. 

Developing the Arrangement.—The site in question 
was therefore eventually purchased—and at a very 
reasonable price,—and the plant, shown in plan in 
Figure G and perspective in Figure 7, was built and in 
















104 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


full and successful operation, entirely completed, in¬ 
cluding the development and perfecting of many spe¬ 
cial machines and equipment, within less than one 
year from the time it was decided to go ahead. (It 
may be interesting to note that the 250 yards daily 
production of the small plant was increased to 1,000 
yards within four months and to over 3,000 yards 
within six months from the date of starting building 
operations.) 

A number of extended studies were made in devel¬ 
oping the final arrangement of the plant which, as 
shown by the general plan, follows in essentials the 
suggested preliminary scheme. 

The problem of the development subdivided itself, 
with but little discussion, into the three distinct 
phases represented by the three separate plant manu¬ 
facturing units; first, the preparation of the cloth 
base; second, the preparation of the chemical com¬ 
pounds to be used in processing the cloth; and third, 
the application of the required chemicals to the cloth 
and its “leatherization”, that is, the several treat¬ 
ments required in manufacturing the finished product. 

Production Schedules.—With these elements de¬ 
termined, planning studies began with production 
quantities and raw materials. Careful tests were 
made to determine the practical average daily output 
of the coating machines. This is the first step in the 
operations of the main manufacturing unit; and, in 
fact, because of the complicated character, the nature 
of the work, and the high cost of these machines, it 
is the first controlling factor of production. 

It was found that these machines, each of which 








EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 105 


comprised four distinct units or individual machines 
for filling, compressing, coating, and calendering, were 
safely dependable for a 2,000-yard daily output, thus 
necessitating the installation and continued use of five 
machines for the 10,000-yard desired production. It 
was decided, however, to install an auxiliary or re¬ 
serve machine, bringing the rated capacity to 12,000 
yards per day, in order to insure a 10,000-yard un¬ 
interrupted output. It was also decided to allow an 
equal reserve or margin of safety for all the main 
manufacturing machines and auxiliary equipment; 
and also to lay out both the chemical treating and 
cloth preparation and dye house equipments on the 
same basis of reserve capacity. 

Raw Materials.—The facts obtained regarding raw 
materials were that but two grades of cloth—heavy 
and light—were to be used as the base of the leather, 
and these were to be run approximately at the rate 
of 8000 and 2000 yards per day respectively. It was 
arranged that these would be purchased in their hard 
woven, unbleached state, and forwarded in 400-yard 
burlapped rolls at the rate of two carload shipments 
each week, approximating in yardage the output of 
the plant. It was agreed that storage capacity for 
fifteen days should be provided immediately, with 
provision for the future increase of this to take care 
of at least a thirty-day supply. 

Storage space was to be provided for at least a 
thirty-day supply of dye and finishing stuffs, with 
provision for an ultimate carrying capacity of three 
months stock, the bulk of this stock being received 
and carried in barrels. 


106 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


The chemicals required for the processing or 
leatherizing of the goods comprised two heavy com¬ 
pounds and five oils; the former in barrels and the 
latter preferably in tank cars. All of these chemicals 
were more or less combustible, and it was necessary 
to segregate their storage, mixing and preparation 
from the main plant insofar as practicable. It was 
desired to carry a sixty-dav supply of compounds and 
preferably 10,000 gallons of the oils. 

Five colors were to be used in the glazing and 
finishing of the leatherized surface of the goods, and 
provision was to be made for carrying a sixty-day 
supply of these; their preparation to be an adjunct of 
the chemical treating work, as they were incorporated 
in part in the applied chemical compounds. 

Processing Operations.—The main manufacturing 
processes—that is, the leatherizing and finishing of 
the cloth—as carried on in the main plant, consist of 
“filling”, or the application of a chemical compound 
base which is then compressed, then surfaced or 
coated with a “leather” compound, and again com¬ 
pressed and calendered. These applications or series 
of treatments are then followed by “heat” processing 
preceding the “graining” of the leather. The 
“grain”, in any one of several “finishes”, is per¬ 
manently set under heavy pressure and under steam 
at high temperature; the goods are then rapidly 
cooled and “glazed” preparatory to a prolonged 
“curing” process, that is, oxidation, setting, and 
baking under varying degrees of heat. The curing 
process is followed in turn by the application of a 
chemical finisher affixed under a slow oxidizing heat, 








EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 107 



FIG. 8. STREET VIEW OF TEXTILE LEATHER PLANT. 

—the last finishing process preliminary to cooling, in¬ 
specting, and making-up the leather for finished stock 
storage or immediate shipment. 

The great essential in these manufacturing opera¬ 
tions was to develop purely mechanical or machine 
processing, and to effect the continued straight-line 
progress or “flow” of the goods through the plant 
from start to finish and by mechanical means, avoid¬ 
ing hand operation or control and hand labor and 
handling wherever possible. For two reasons this 
seemed at first thought to present some real diffi¬ 
culties; first, because during and after certain pro¬ 
cesses, the leatherized surface of the goods was ruined 
if touched or otherwise marked bv contact or marred 
with dust or other foreign substance; and secondly, 
because between machine operations the heat treating 
and curing processes involved varying periods,—some 
of them extending through five hours. 

The Final Arrangement.—A careful study of the 
plan shown in Figure 6, demonstrates how, in a large 









108 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


measure, these problems were worked out. After de¬ 
ciding upon the division of the plant into three en¬ 
tirely separate units, the location of the main entrance 
to the plant, the offices, the employees’ locker and 
wash room, and the general supplies department 
seemed almost automatically to fix their logical posi¬ 
tion at the most convenient point, as shown in the 
plan and emphasized by the views of the plant in 
Figures 7 and 8. This seemed to leave the space be¬ 
tween the chemical storage and treating plants as the 
only desirable location for the power plant, coal stor¬ 
age pocket, the machine shop, and other structures, 
and for many reasons it proved their best possible 
situation. 

Cloth Treating Plant.—Preliminary to laying out 

the Cloth Treating Plant the entire process of dyeing, 
drying, and finishing had to be developed. It was 
thought desirable to make this a straight line process, 
absolutely continuous from start to finish. This was 
carried out, with the result that this process was the 
prime factor in deciding the arrangement of this unit 
of the plant. 

Referring again to Figure 6, it is seen that all dye 
stuffs received by car lot may be unloaded from the 
spur siding at car level directly to the platform ad¬ 
joining the Stores Department, rolled down the in¬ 
clined runways to the stock room floor, which is 
twelve inches above the yard level, and from this 
point they may be rolled or trucked into place. Dye 

» ^ ^' &s well as general mill sup¬ 

plies, are delivered at the receiving door of the gen¬ 
eral stores department and transferred directly to 





EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 109 

their proper places. The roadways from the street 
into the factory yard are paved in part with vitrified 
brick, the balance being paved with wood block, both 
laid on a concrete base. 

All incoming cloth, which it is desirable to keep in 
absolutely dry storage, is received in carload lots and 
unloaded directly to the platform of the Cloth Storage 
Building, on the same level with the car floor. This 
building, one story in height, was designed for the ad¬ 
dition of two additional floors. The under floor of the 
building is of concrete on a level with the floor of the 
Main Dye House, that is, twelve inches above yard 
grade; a false floor of 3-inch yellow pine with a maple 
top was constructed on a level with the unloading 
platform and car floor, thus affording an absolutely 
dry floor for storage and the most convenient level 
for unloading and handling the incoming cloth. 

Napping Department.—From storage the cloth is 
delivered by “beam” truck and slide to the Napping 
Room and convenient to either of the napping ma¬ 
chines. As the cloth is napped it is automatically 
plaited on conveyor truck platforms and transferred 
to temporary storage in the opposite end of the room, 
directly back of the Dyeing Room. 

The napping machines are equipped with specially 
designed but very simple dust collectors which absorb 
the lint as fast as it is made and prevent any par¬ 
ticles of it from escaping and floating about or set¬ 
tling in the Napping Rooms, hence it was not neces¬ 
sary to separate the napping machines from the 
Napped Goods Storage Department, as is usually 
done on account of the great clouds of lint given off 


110 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



KGS. 9 AND 10. DYEING MACHINE, ABOVE, AND DRYING A&D 

FINISHING ROOM, BELOW. 
























EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 111 

and blown about the room. This system of dustless 
napping has many advantages, not the least of which 
is comfortable, healthful working conditions for the 
operators and relief from the necessity of always 
closed doors to the adjoining departments. 

The Dyeing Processes.—Napped goods stored on 
truck platforms are readily forwarded as required 
to the Dye Room. The process of ^dyeing, steam¬ 
ing, boiling, drying, re-dyeing or second dyeing, 
steaming, washing, drying, stretching, finishing and 
rolling was made one continued series of operations, 
unbroken from the plaited napped cloth at the start 
to the finished cloth rolled at the end for storage and 
transfer to the main plant. These operations are per¬ 
formed by a series of machines working as a single 
unit, and at the production rate of twenty yards of 
cloth per minute. 

The arrangement of the dye-house machines may be 
seen in Figure 9, which shows the beginning of dye¬ 
ing operations, and in Figure 10, which shows the 
finished cloth being rolled as it leaves the drying and 
finishing room. 

Each machine is individually motor-driven, and all 
the machines are timed in such unison that each suc¬ 
ceeding machine operates at a very slightly lesser 
speed than the preceding unit so as to avoid any 
danger of succeeding machines gradually picking up 
the cloth at a faster rate than it is delivered. This 
precaution for safety is assisted by so “threading- 
up” the entire run of equipment that several yards 
of 1 i take-up ’ ’ are provided between each of the 
several units. The speed of the first dyeing machine 


112 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


is slightly over twenty yards per minute; that of the 
last finisher and roller, slightly under twenty yards, 
with the intervening units properly rated. By this 
method the “take-ups” between machines gradually 
lengthen, of course, but these are readily adjusted 
twice a day by the scheme of operating control in 
use. 

In beginning the day’s run the motor of machine 
Number 1 is started; in another moment that of Num¬ 
ber 2, then Number 3, and so on until in less than 
five minutes all the machines, each started by the 
same operator, are in full operation. 

If it is necessary to stop any machine, such as, say, 
Number 1 or 2, all other machines must stop at prac¬ 
tically the same time, otherwise the “take-ups” would 
not only be completely taken up but, owing to the 
great strength of the cloth which would not break 
under the strain, the machines that had been stopped 
would be pulled to pieces. To overcome any such 
possibility, an electrically-controlled motor-stop sys¬ 
tem was installed to shut down every machine at 
practically the same time any one is stopped. This j 

* ^ t em is operated by push button, one at ; 

each machine and others at convenient intervals along 
the side walls of the room. TV hen the “take-ups’* 
between machines gradually lengthen and became 
over long, the machines are all stopped, and then ma¬ 
chine Number 2 is operated alone until this length is 
reduced as desired, then Number 3 is similarly oper¬ 
ated and followed by the other; but this operation is 
never necessary except when starting up in the morn¬ 
ing and again at noon time. 







EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 113 


The operations of the dyeing and finishing pro¬ 
cesses are in themselves interesting, but because of 
special processes developed by the Company they 
cannot properly be discussed here. It may be noted, 
however, that means are provided for giving the 
cloth, even at its high rate of speed, comparatively 
long periods of saturation in the dye and wash vats 
and in the steam boxes. 

Finishing the Cloth.—After the fourth saturation 
the cloth is dried on cans, which leaves it in a very 
hard board-like state. After the final saturation, the 
cloth passes through a cold mangle and thence into 
the Drying Room where, by warm air alone, the cloth 
is dried during its stretching and finishing processes. 
In this operation, 1200 pounds of water are evapor¬ 
ated and carried off every hour; this is equivalent to 
the absorbtion of approximately 1500 gallons or six 
tons of water every ten-hour day. 

The cloth as finished by this process is particularly 
soft and pliable and is in the best possible condition 
for its following treatments. Leaving the dry room, 
the cloth is mechanically rolled, and is then carried 
on beam trucks to the Finished Cloth Stock Room 
adjoining the Dye Room, there awaiting delivery as 
required to the Main Plant, to which it is sent by 
beam trucks across the roadway, either directly to 
the first floor Coating Room or by elevator to the 
second floor. 

The Chemical Plant.—Proceeding now to a discus¬ 
sion of the Chemical Plant, it is noted that this is 
divided into two distinct units—the Storage of Chemi¬ 
cals and Oils, and the Treating or Processing Depart- 


114 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ments. Because of explosive and fire risk, it was de¬ 
cided to isolate the storage of the “raw” products 
insofar as could reasonably and conveniently be done. 
For this reason, underground steel tanks of 10,000- 
gallons capacity were installed for the oils received 



FIG. 11. VIEW BETWEEN BUILDINGS, SHOWING CHEMICAL PLANT, 
POWER HOUSE AND BARREL STORAGE BUILDINGS ON THE RIGHT. 


by tank cars, and a two-storv warehouse was built 
for the storage of chemicals received in barrels. The 
location of these units, in reference to the Chemical 
Plant and also of the Chemical Plant itself in refer¬ 
ence to the Main Plant, may be noted in Figures 6 
and 7 and also in Figure 11, the latter showing the 
railroad spur extending between buildings and also 















EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 115 

the flat car with barrels ready to be delivered to the 
mixing plant. 

Storage and Handling Systems.—Incoming oils are 
siphoned from the cars to che underground tanks, and 
these oils, as required for use in the chemical or main 
manufacturing plant, are forced through pipes to the 
point of use, the pumps being located in a house at 
the tanks, but automatically operated and controlled 
at the place of use. 

Chemicals received in barrels are delivered from 

4 ' 

the cars to the rear platform of the Storage House 

which is at car floor level. From here they are rolled 

down a slight incline, if they are to be stocked on 

the first floor, or rolled to a continuous elevator which 

delivers them automatically to the second floor. The 

first floor of the Storage House is at the same level 

as the floor of the yard track hand-car, so that the 

barrels, which weigh approximately 500 pounds, may 

be rolled directlv onto the car for transfer to the 

%/ 

Chemical Plant; barrels on the second floor being 
transferred to the first by a curved chute, so designed 
as to deliver them without other control and without 
shock. 

Processing and Delivering.—The main building of 
the Chemical Plant is two stories in height, as this 
arrangement affords the readiest means of handling 
certain chemicals that must be mixed and then fed 
gradually to other compounds undergoing agitation 
in the main mixers on the first floor. Some of the 
chemicals used on the second floor are received in 
barrels and these are delivered by elevator; others are 
pumped from the underground tanks or from the 


116 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 12. CHEMICAL MIXERS. 


Boiling House located between the chemical plant and 
the power house; after mixing they are fed through 
controlled spouts to the Main Mixers, shown in Fig¬ 
ure 12. S* 

The rest of the Plant is but one story in height; 
this comprises other chemical and paint mixing de¬ 
partments with auxiliary barrel storage; that is, this 
storage represents only the day’s supply for immedi¬ 
ate use. The chemicals prepared in the Main Mixing 
Department are delivered in large steel cans by a 
conveyor to either the first or second floor of the 
Coating Boom of the main manufacturing plant; other 
chemicals and paints are pumped to the point of use. 















EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 117 



FIG. 13. FIRE-PROOF BRIDGE BETWEEN BUILDINGS. 


The Chemical and Main Plants are connected by an 
overhead bridge to afford convenient and quick means 
of connection between the second floors of these plants. 
Opposite doors afford equal facilities on the ground 
floor for the Superintendent who is responsible 
for the mixing of the chemicals and their proper 
action, as applied in the first processes in the Main 
Manufacturing Plant. A view of this bridge, fire¬ 
proofed both inside and out and equipped with fire 
doors is shown in Figure 13. Tt will he noted that a 
steel stairway affords egress from the bridge, or from 



























118 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


the second floors of either of the connected buildings 
through the bridge to the yard. 

The Main Manufacturing Plant.—Taking up the 
study of the operations of the Main Manufacturing 
Plant we find upon referring to the general plan of 
the plant, Figure 6, that the first series of processing 
including filling, compressing, coating, re-compress¬ 
ing, and calendaring, are performed in the so-called 
Coating Hoorn Building. 

This is a two-story fire-proofed structure, housing 
six complete quadruple-unit * * coating’ ’ machines, 
three on each floor. The dyed and finished cloth 
enters tlie building on either floor at the finishing end 
of the machines, where it is inserted at the beginning 
of each new run of cloth every thirty minutes; that 
is, the incoming cloth is cut as fed into the machines 
in one-hundred-yard lengths, and these are formed 
into a continuous belt which travels continuously and 
at fairly fast rate of speed for the thirty minutes of 
continued processing. 

Processing Methods and Equipments.—The chemical 

compounds are all applied at or near the machine 
units at the opposite end of the building and near 
their point of receipt. All the operations of this de¬ 
partment are carried on under fairly high tempera¬ 
tures, but good working conditions are maintained by 
the injection of large quantities of fresh warm air 
and the exhaust of the depressing off-fumes; in fact, 
the air in these rooms is completely changed every 
three minutes. 

It is at the finishing end of the operations in the 
Coating Plant that the only break in the continued 


EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 119 


and continuous mechanical travel and handling of the 
goods throughout this entire plant occurs. As the 
“coating” operations are completed, the treated cloth 
is sewn to the end of the last preceding “finished” 
length, which hangs through a slot in the wall divid¬ 
ing the Coating Hoorn and the “Reservoir” where 
the first heat treating or “setting” process occurs. 

The cloth leaving the Coating Rooms is automatic¬ 
ally fed to a slow-moving chain conveyor which car¬ 
ries cross bars spaced a few inches apart, upon which 
the goods are looped and carried in long festoons. 
Gradually these bars approach an accumulating sec¬ 
tion, where they are released from the chain and held 
stationery until the cloth is removed through other 
slots to the Graining Department. This reservoir al¬ 
ways contains something over 200 yards of cloth on 
each one of the six unit runs, and the time of travel 
of the cloth, from entering to leaving, is one hour. 
During this period, the chemical compounds which 
have been applied to the cloth receive their prelim¬ 
inary “set” under fairly high temperature, with just 
enough of a warm air blast to remove the odors given 
off during treatment through ventilator exhaust. 

There are six complete units of conveyor and pro¬ 
cessing machines throughout the plant, just as in the 
Coating Room, and each unit is capable of turning 
out 200 yards per hour; so that if any one or more 
units shut down for a period or periods equalling 
in total the output of any one unit, the productive 
capacity of the plant may still be maintained at 
10,000 yards per day. 

From the “reservoir” the cloth is automatically 


MW* 


120 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 






\\ 1 
f\\j! 


ygm 

1 ~JI 


FIGS. 14 ANI) 15. PROCESSING OVEN, ABOVE: INSPECTION, MAKING- 
UP, AND SHIPPING DEPARTMENTS, BELOW. 












EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 121 


fed, while still warm, to the “graining’’ machines. 
From these it is fed through a cold blast air box to 
the “glazing” machines, from which it is taken by 
looping conveyors into the first “curing oven”; the 
operations for graining and glazing being continuous 
and at the rate of approximately three and one-half 
yards per minute. 

The curing ovens hold approximately 1200 yards 
per conveyor unit, so that the cloth undergoes heat 
treatment therein for a period of five hours from the 
time of entry to exit. The movement and control of 
the cloth is similar to the methods used in the “reser¬ 
voir” just described. The entire operation of entry, 
travel, and exit is mechanical and may be seen in a 
general way by referring to Figure 14, although this 
photograph was taken before the entire completion of 
the plant and the installation of the entire automatic 
conveyor system. 

Finishing and Shipping.—Leaving the first oven, 
the cloth travels by mechanical means through the 
finishing machines, thence into oven Number 2, where 
it is baked under controlled temperatures and “oxi¬ 
dized” by means of a blast of very warm air, the 
fumes being carried off through roof ventilators. The 
period of treatment in this oven continues through 
five hours; and as the cloth passes out, it is taken 
by other looping conveyors through the Cooling Hoorn 
where it undergoes a blast of cold air, for the pur¬ 
pose, among other things, of removing the last traces 
of any other than a pleasing leather odor. 

The finished cloth is mechanically removed from 
the “accumulating reservoir” section of the Cooling 


122 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Room through slots in the wall to inspecting tables, 
over which it passes to the rolling-up stands, F igure 
15, and is then passed through measuring machines, 
is cut into approximately fifty yard lengths, and is 
then wrapped and stocked for shipment. j 

The floor of the Shipping Room, which is a one- 
story building but designed for a later additional 
story, is similar to that of the incoming cloth-storage 
room and at loading car platform levels, so that 
shipments may be transferred to the cars with a 
minimum of work. Referring again to the general 
plan of the plant, it is seen that there are loading 
platforms at each side of the Shipping Building, and 
the doors opening thereon are protected by steel 
hoods which extend out over the edge of the plat¬ 
forms. 

Summing up the travel of the goods through the 
plant, it is seen that there is a straight-line forward 
movement from start to finish. Incoming materials 
are delivered from cars on the spur sidings directly 
to their proper stores, and thence by direct route to 
and through the cloth and chemical preparing plants 
to the Main Manufacturing plant. In this plant they 
travel in straight lines and entirely by mechanical 
means through all process to the shipping room, 
and from here the finished goods are shipped in car 
lots from the siding on either side of this building. 

The Power Plant.—There are, however, features 
other than those discussed which are of great im¬ 
portance in the operation of the plant. These include 
particularly the powder plant and the distribution and 
use of power and steam, the facilities afforded for 


EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 123 


the ready travel to and from any department of the 
plant, the sanitary and other conveniences provided 
for the employees, and the provision made for the 
general office needs. 

The power plant, while not located at the exact 
load center of the plant, is within approximately one 
hundred feet of it; and it is doubtful if, all things 
considered, its location relative to the manufacturing 
plant or the conveniences or economies of its own 
operation could be bettered. In planning the power 
station, there was little definite information available 
as to the actual steam and power requirements of the 
manufacturing plant, so that it had to be predicated 
entirely upon estimates of the probable power con¬ 
sumption of then undeveloped machines and ma¬ 
chinery and upon the calculated steam demands for 
dyeing, boiling, washing, drying, baking and other 
heat-treating processes as then projected in only a 
general and preliminary way. As nearly as could be 
determined the connected motor load of the entire 
plant would, when completed, approximate 350 horse¬ 
power, and the manufacturing steam load approxi¬ 
mately 300-boiler horsepower. No power was required 
for night operation, except for the necessary protect¬ 
ing lighting of yard and buildings, and steam was 
required only in sufficient quantity to maintain moder¬ 
ate temperatures in the heat processing rooms. 

The conclusion was to install two 200-horsepower 
boilers with hand-operated stokers, and make provi¬ 
sion for the later installation of a third or spare boiler 
and to design the piping, breeching and stack for 
such a final load; in fact, a 750-horsepower radial 


124 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


brick stack was installed against possible unforeseen 
or future contingencies or needs, and to provide as 
well that excess of draft necessary for ease of regula¬ 
tions and operation. 

The Steam and Power Scheme.—It was further con¬ 
cluded that without exception all the manufacturing 
processes of the plant, even including dyeing, boiling, 
drying and baking, could be operated on low-pressure 
steam, and that the greatest economy could be ob¬ 
tained by installing a simple non-condensing, 225-kilo¬ 
watt direct-connected steam generating unit designed 
to operate under a back pressure of fifteen pounds 
and to utilize all the “exhaust” therefrom for plant 
operation, instead of direct boiler steam; also to in¬ 
stall a similar 35-kilowatt auxiliary unit for night or 
other stand-by operating periods. 

Again, it was decided to carry out all the plant 
operations requiring steam on the indirect vacuum re¬ 
turn system, thereby completing a “closed cycle” 
throughout the plant; that is, to generate the steam in 
the boilers, apply its expansive force in the engine 
to develop power, utilize the heat of the “exhaust”— 
which would average, say, ninety per cent of original 
value—in all the heating operations of the plant by 
“indirect”, application, return all “condensation” to 
the feed water heater by the vacuum system and 
thence, after reheating by the exhaust of the boiler 
house auxiliaries, by pump to the boilers. W 

This proposed development was very generally 
carried out; the two boilers proved adequate for the 
plant demands even during the winter heating sea¬ 
sons. No high-pressure steam is used in any of the 








EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 125 



FIGS. 16 AND 17. ROOF VIEWS, SHOWING STEAM AND ELECTRIC 
MAINS, AND ROOF METER AND CONTROL HOUSE ABOVE, AND 
THE SKYLIGHTS AND VENTILATORS BELOW. 















12C 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


plant’s manufacturing operations or processes; all 
steam is applied by the “indirect” system, and all 
condensation is returned to the boilers, entering the 
feed water heater at approximately 160 degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

The steam supply mains to the several plants are 
carried up and through the power plant building and 
across to the meter and control house on the roof 
of the main manufacturing plant, as shown in Figure 
16. Here the three mains are metered, and cross- 
connections with an auxiliary boiler supply under 
reduced pressure provide emergency safeguards. All 
condensation return pipes are laid in concrete 
trenches; those within the buildings are finished with 
steel cover plates level with the floors; the yard 
trenches are entirely underground and waterproofed. 

The power and steam economies contemplated with 
the proposed scheme for the generation, transmission, 
and use of the steam and power required in the 
operations of the manufacturing departments of the 
plant, were fully realized and keenly appreciated by 
the operating officials. 

Power Plant Operating Methods.—It may be inter¬ 
esting to observe the methods of receiving and hand¬ 
ling coal, because of their simplicity and the further 
fact that the coal handling and storage plant repre¬ 
sent but a small monetary investment. The spur 
siding paralleling the power plant is at yard grade, 
but coal is nevertheless received in hopper-bottomed 
cars and distributed by mechanical means over the 
full area of the 1,200-ton coal pocket. The hoppers 
of the cars are allowed to discharge directly on the 




EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 127 


ground, and the coal is picked up by a 3-horsepower 
motor-operated portable “conveyor-loader” and car¬ 
ried to an overhead pivoted distributing chute from 
which it is discharged by gravity. 

Of no less interest are the simple methods and 
means employed in recording the power plant opera¬ 
tions and determining the daily over-all efficiency of 
the plant. 

The coal pocket is closely adjacent to the boiler 
room; coal is delivered by wheelbarrow, weighed on 
recording scales and dumped on the firing floor; it 
is shovelled as required to the stoker grates, which 
are hand-operated. Water meters measure and record 
the quantities of “make-up” required and the total 
water fed to the boilers. Knowing by these methods 
the amount of coal used every day and having de¬ 
terminations by analysis of its heating value, and 
knowing the amounts of water fed to or evaporated by 
the boilers and having continuous temperature rec¬ 
ords thereof, the facts for checking-up the over-all 
efficiency of the boiler plant are always available. In 
this particular plant these recorded facts have been 
of great value, and their worth has been augmented 
by other automatically recorded information relative 
to the use of power and steam. 

Paths of Travel About Plant.—One of the conveni¬ 
ences and economies of plant arrangement so often 
apparently overlooked in laying out the general 
scheme of the development, is facility of entry and 
exit, and travel about the plant for all the opera¬ 
tives and employees. The ideal plan in this regard 
is that one which offers short direct routes from the 


128 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


employees’ entrance and from the offices to every 
department of the plant, without passage through 
any other department. It is not often that the ideal 
is attainable; but with its importance in mind in 
laying out the plant, it may be approached, at least 
to an extent of material advantage. 

To illustrate: In this plant all employees enter the 
Works at the gate adjoining the office building; see 
Figures 6 and 7. The gate is locked at the hour of 
beginning work, and those coming late must “ring” 
for admittance. The Gate is unlocked by push but¬ 
ton bv one of the time clerks in the Time Office, 
and his desk is so located at the window as to give 
him a clear view of the late comer who must sign a 
“late card” as he stops for an instant in passing the 
side window with its special slide and protecting 
hood. 

After entering, all employees pass directly to the 
Main Locker and Wash Room just back of the Dyed 
Goods Storage Building. From here those employed 
in the Cloth Preparing Plant go through the passage- 
wavs shown to anv one of the several departments in 
this plant. Those employed in the Main Manufac¬ 
turing Plant cross the roadway, pass through the 
“vestibule” of the Stair Tower and enter the stair¬ 
way leading to the second floor of the Coating Room 
or enter directly upon the side passageway connect¬ 
ing to all other departments on the first floor of the 
Manufacturing Plant. 

The Chemical and Power Plant operatives go di¬ 
rectly through the stair tower “vestibule” and on 
through a special partitioned passageway, across the 




EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 129 


building between the Coating Room and “Reservoir,” 
to the exit to the south roadway and thence direct 
to their particular place of work. A study of these 
indicated and observed “routes” of travel show many 
points of real value, which it is hardly necessary 
to discuss further. 

Operating and Service Facilities.—In designing 
this plant especial attention was given to those re¬ 
quirements of the employees upon which depend their 
ability to perform their day’s work properly. Every 
department of the plant is well lighted with large 
windows; and in some of the rooms where exacting 
work is required, particularly in the Main Plant, 
additional light is afforded by all-glass monitor sky¬ 
lights. 

Excellent natural ventilation is provided by the 
large percentage of ventilating sash area in the win¬ 
dows and is further assisted by roof ventilators, as 
shown by Figure 17. In addition to the good natural 
ventilation of all buildings, special mechanical sys¬ 
tems were installed in several of the plant depart¬ 
ments to introduce the necessary quantities of fresh 
air at the desired temperatures in order to remove 
obnoxious odors and vapors and maintain a com¬ 
fortable atmosphere. In the Dye House and Chemical 
Plant and in certain of the Finishing Departments, 
complete changes of air are effected every three to 
six minutes as the needs demand. 

Service facilities of the most modern type were in¬ 
stalled at convenient points throughout all the plants. 
Sanitary drinking fountains were placed in every 
department. Toilet rooms, equipped with the best 


130 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


fixtures and sanitary in every respect, were located 
within convenient distance of every part of the plant. 

Where it was feasible, the toilet rooms were con¬ 
structed outside of, but adjoining the buildings, so 
that they were lighted and ventilated from three 
sides of the room. The main wash and locker room 
was equipped with individual porcelain-enamelled 
wash bowls and full-length steel lockers. All lavatory 
fixtures are provided with both cold and hot water 
supply. 

All water for plant use, excepting the small amount 
required for boiler “make-up” and the City service 
for fire protection, is obtained from an artesian well 
on the plant site. It is pumped by air to a tower 
tank which is set sufficiently high to afford thirty- 
five pounds pressure throughout the water supply 
svstem. 

All sanitary drainage and sewage is collected in 
mains which empty by gravity into a concrete septic 
tank built below the filled in and finished yard grade, 
and located some distance to the rear of the Cloth 
Preparing Plant. The effluent from the clear water 
chamber of this tank is lifted by automatically-oper¬ 
ated motor-driven ejectors, provided in duplicate, and 
discharged into a high level sewer drain, from which 
it flows by gravity to a brook emptying into tide 
water two or three miles distant. 

The General Offices.—Another feature to which 
considerable thought was given in laying out the' 
plant, was the location, design, and arrangement of 
the plant offices. It was finally concluded that the 
best location for the offices was that position which 



EXAMPLE OF METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 131 


would in all probability be most central to the entire 
plant, considering not only its immediate develop¬ 
ment but its possible future extension, and also con¬ 
sidering a location which would permit of the com¬ 
plete enclosure of the property by a substantial fence 
and yet afford ease of approach and access to both 
employees and the public. It was further desired 
to locate the offices so that the entrv and exit of 
employees and others, as well as company and other 
trucks and vehicles, might easily be observed and 
controlled. Furthermore, it was essential that the 
location should be such that any and every part 
of the plant might be reached with the greatest ease 
and dispatch. 

The conclusion was finally made that the one loca¬ 
tion best meeting all requirements was that shown 
on the General Plan of the plant in Figure 6. A good 
idea of the general design of the building, its main 
entrance, and the plant entrances may be had by ref¬ 
erence to Figure 8. The main doorway of the build¬ 
ing opens into a central rotunda or hallway, with 
the General Offices in the front of the building and 
at the left; back of these is the Manager’s office and 
the two-story fire-proofed vault. 

On the right, a smaller hallway leads directly to 
a side exit to the factory yard; on the right of this 
hallway and in the front of the building is located 
the President’s office and the Time Department. On 
the left of the hallway is a rail-enclosed “ waiting 
room,” adjoining also the main or central hallway; 
next to this is a private lavatory, while beyond and 
adjoining the side entrance is an employees’ waiting 


132 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


and conference room. In the rear, with approach 
from the main hallway, is a lavatory and dressing 
room for the women employees. 

The central hallway, extending entirely through the 
building, opens into a tire-proofed stair well, and from 
this one may proceed to the manufacturing plant or 
to the second floor of the offices, where are located 
the Works Managers office, the Accounting Depart¬ 
ments, and the Chemical Laboratory. The office 
locker room and Lavatory, which contains also a 
shower bath, is located at the head of the stairs. 

Provision for Extension.—The foregoing more or 
less complete discussion of this plant ought not to 
be concluded, perhaps, without some statement as to 
the thought that was given to the probable or pos¬ 
sible future extension and final development of this 
property. In reality, this matter was gone into very 
thoroughly, and a second manufacturing unit, shown 
on the General Plan, Figure 6, was quite fully worked 
out for the manufacture of “patent” and other fancy 
leathers. The operations of this unit would closely 
follow those of the present manufacturing unit, 
though the width of the finished leathers would be 
greater, thus demanding the wider buildings shown. 

It was proposed to install, within the very near 
future, a garage for trucks and cars for plant use, 
and the location decided upon was the northwest 
corner of the property as this would afford entrance 
from the main highway and the side street as well. 
This left a large tract of ground along the side street 
available for whatever further development the future 
might demand. 


CHAPTER VI 


A REPORT ON PLANT RECONSTRUCTION AND 

EXTENSION 

Necessities for Plant Development.—The recon¬ 
struction and extension of a manufacturing plant, 
as a rule, is in answer to a prolonged and insistent 
demand for greater economies in manufacturing and 
for increased production. In the past it has been a 
work often undertaken grudgingly, without serious 
investigation and study and without vision,—and 
such was particularly apt to be the case in instances 
of absentee ownership and management. 

This is not generally the present-day spirit of the 
progressive manufacturer, owner, or operator, how¬ 
ever; they have now the desire to know the true 
conditions surrounding their manufacturing opera¬ 
tions; they appreciate the necessity and worth of 
serious investigations of the causes of limited manu¬ 
facturing profits; they seek to know the most prac¬ 
tical and sure remedies, and they study their possi¬ 
bilities, visualizing their application and their prob¬ 
able future worth. 

The Director’s Viewpoint.—It was with the 
thought of a possible revamping of their plant that 
the directors of a large corporation, operating sev¬ 
eral consolidated properties, undertook a serious 
study of one of its southern plants and mapped out 

133 


134 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


a fairly comprehensive scheme for the improvement 
of its manufacturing facilities which they believed 
would materially better operating conditions, reduce 
manufacturing costs, and eventually result in a 1 airly 
satisfactory rehabilitation of the entire plant. 

This program, however, did not appeal at all to the 
resident director and manager of the plant in ques¬ 
tion, who had previously been the sole owner of the 
plant and had given much study to the actual con¬ 
ditions of the plant and the inefficient operating 
methods imposed by its limitations. It was his con¬ 
tention that a thoroughly modern and enlarged plant, 
designed for their specific needs, the buildings 
adapted to their requirements, with equipments fkted 
to their demands, the whole properly laid out and 
arranged to provide all essential operating facilities, 
would prove one of the best investments they could 
make, both from the viewpoint of immediate and 
future returns. 

Investigation Decided Upon.—It was this difference 
in opinion that led the directors of the corporation 
to retain engineers to investigate the plant and its 
operations and to render a report thereon. Such an 
investigation was made and the report delivered as 
desired. Both were of a preliminary nature; because 
the directors required the report in less than three 
weeks, and particularly so because the plant con¬ 
ditions were such as to demand nothing less than a 
program of complete reconstruction. It will be in¬ 
teresting to follow the report through, however, and 
then discuss the developments that resulted. It 
should be kept in mind in reading the report that it 



RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


135 


was presented simply as a succinct statement of facts, 
conclusions and recommendations, to a group of di¬ 
rectors who knew their plant; and as such it was 
subject to a thorough discussion which would bring 
out and elaborate the many issues so briefly touched 
upon and so concisely treated. The report follows: 

Gentlemen: At your request we have made an in¬ 
vestigation of your Southern Plant for the purpose of 
submitting definite recommendations pertinent to its 
physical betterment, particularly such as would tend 
to the development of greater efficiencies and econ¬ 
omies in its operation and bring the plant into a fair 
state of maintenance. 

It may be pertinent to reiterate briefly the exist¬ 
ing plant conditions, so that you may compare them 
with the operating possibilities of the tentatively 
proposed reconstructed plant. This will enable you 
the more readily to appreciate the logic of our con¬ 
clusions and to determine how far you are warranted 
in preceeding along the lines recommended. 

I. The Present Plant.—The general layout and 
arrangement of your plant as it now exists is shown 
in Plan 1, Figure 18, and the front elevation of the 
plant along Elm Street in Figure 19. The Plant con¬ 
sists of the following units, here briefly discussed: 

1. Foundry .—This is a new unit. The building is of 
brick and steel construction, well laid out, and when com¬ 
pleted as planned should prove a veiy efficient plant, with 
minor exceptions. 

2. Machine Shop .—An obsolete frame structure, totally in¬ 
adequate in every respect—including arrangement, building, 
equipment, and operating facilities. 


136 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 18. PLAN 1, GENERAL LAYOUT OF COTTON-GIN PLANT 

PRIOR TO RECONSTRUCTION 

3. Blacksmith and Forge Shop .—At present occupies one 
comer of machine shop. Inadequate. 

4. Wood-Working Plant .—Obsolete two-story frame build¬ 
ing, poorly laid out, over-crowded, and inadequate for the 
work therein—including, as it does, wood machine plant or 
planing mill, wood assembling shops, gin saw and brush mak¬ 
ing and gin assembling, and 11 short order” shipping and 
general stores departments. 

5. Sheet-Metal Shops .—The main unit consists of a one-and 
two-story light frame building, poorly arranged and lighted 
with inadequate facilities; sheet-metal manufacturing on the 
main floor with painting, crating and storage room, for smaller 














RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


137 



FIG. 19. FRONT ELEVATION OF OLD PLANT 


sections, above. The auxiliary unit is a one-story rough shed, 
located on the property across the railroad, used for paint¬ 
ing, crating and storing long lengths and large sections of 
sheet metal pipes and fittings. 

6. Power Plant .—This consists of a brick boiler house with 
two return tubular boilers, steel stack, coal and sawdust bins, 
artesian well with pump delivering to storage tank used as 
boiler feed supply which is heated by exhaust from boiler 
feed pump. Power is developed or furnished to the several 
shops as follows: a 13x18 inch Frost automatic engine in the 
machine shop; a 16x20 inch Frost automatic in the wood 
shop; and a 12x14 inch Frost automatic in the model gin¬ 
nery. The foundry and the sheet metal shops are run on 
15 and 30 H.P. motors respectively with city current. 

Light for the plant is furnished by the 150-light dynamo 
driven from the main shaft of the machine shop. The offices 
are lighted by city current. No steam is used for heating, 
the manufacturing plant being without any heating system 
of any kind. The lumber dry kiln is operated entirely on 
live steam piped from the boiler house. The entire power 







138 


the factory buildings 


plant and power scheme is inadequate, obsolete, and exceed¬ 
ingly wasteful and expensive in operation. 

7. Lumber Yard .—The works are being operated without 
any central or enclosed lumber yard or plant, or equipment 
for handling lumber, so that this important part of your 
operations is carried on in a very costly way and with con¬ 
siderable losses on account of theft. 

8. Warehouses .—The main warehouses comprise three 
divisions of a three-story brick building, totaling approxi¬ 
mately 60 feet in width and 350 feet in length. They are 
well located for the receipt and shipment of materials, but 
are not fully adequate for the demands of the Works as at 
present operated, in that they house certain of your manu¬ 
facturing operations, such as conveyor belting, the building 
of presses, etc., and the painting, finishing and crating of 
gin and other machines. Further valuable space is given 
over to pattern storage, and this is not only inadequate but 
does not furnish proper protection for the patterns. 

9. General Offices .—A substantial two-story brick build¬ 
ing; working space too limited and not effectively arranged. 

Operating Conditions of Present Plant.—The fore¬ 
going brief description of the main units of the 
plant, when studied in connection with the General 
Plan, outlines, in a large measure, the conditions of 
plant operating; but attention is called to certain 
other features which restrict operating economies: 

No adequate means are provided for the handling, trans¬ 
portation, and dispatch of incoming raw materials to the vari¬ 
ous shops nor of the semi-finished materials between shops. 

Storage for rough castings, both light and heavy, is incon¬ 
veniently located with respect to the foundry and machine 
shop, necessitating delivery from the cleaning room over the 
casting floor of the foundry or through the machine shop. 





RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


139 


Steel bar, piping, and shafting storage racks are not satis¬ 
factory or well placed. 

No efficient means are provided for quick and easy han¬ 
dling of materials within the shops, and this is particularly 
true of heavy machine shop work. 

The storage provided for both air and kiln dried lumber 
is so located as to entail unnecessary expense in handling be¬ 
tween piles, kiln, storage sheds, and wood-working plant. 

There are no facilities for the convenient unloading of 
particularly heavy incoming materials, such as boilers or 
extra sized timbers, or for pipe or like materials. 

The paint and oil storage building across the railroad is 
inconveniently located, but this in a measure is necessary 
on account of the fire risk which is augmented by the type 
of plant construction and the lack of any fire protection sys¬ 
tem for the works other than city hydrants. 

Many of the operations of the plant are scattered, and their 
proper concentration would materially reduce costs. 

The “short order” shipping and general stores department 
ought to be conveniently located in the main warehouses 
controlled by a clerk responsible to the warehouse foreman. 

The entire plant, with the exception of the new foundry, 
is without any decent service facilities of any sort. None 
of the buildings are heated, and the employees find the con¬ 
ditions very disagreeable throughout a number of the winter 
days. We understand that when the buildings are too cold 
and damp, the men stay away and operations cease. 

The plant is very poorly laid out from the operating stand¬ 
point. The buildings are practically inadequate for your 
present productive program, and totally so for any increase 
thereof. They are, with the exception of the foundry, the 
warehouses and office buildings, in a more or less dilapidated 
condition; they are dark, dismal, more or less flimsy struc¬ 
tures that have served their day. 


140 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Factors other than these purely physical ones also 
have a deterrent effect upon the earning capacity of 
this plant. The executives there in charge of your 
operations, produce a very notable output and obtain 
commendable results, notwithstanding the handicap 
of the physical limitations of the plant; but they do 
it solely by the inspiring force of their personalities, 
which has created a most loyal and conscientious 
body of operatives, and by their incessant activities 
and constant application to the work in hand. But 
no well defined manufacturing organization exists, 
and you operate without any controlling or directing 
charts. You begin the year with a well defined pro¬ 
production schedule,—you end it with the schedule 
completed, simply and solely because of the person¬ 
ality and unceasing work of your executives and the 
loyalty to them of your plant employees. 

No current records of cost of manufacture are 
maintained, but at the close of the year the appor¬ 
tionment and distribution of the year’s total expense 
is approximated to the various machines and other 
products produced. This prohibits any effective 
executive control of the plant’s operations; for with¬ 
out a practical and competent cost system and 
monthly operating statements, there is little chance 
of unearthing and correcting the inefficiency, extrava¬ 
gance, waste, and other losses that may occur. 

Conclusions as to Present Plant.—To sum up, in 
brief: the condiitons at this plant are deplorable, and 
they are not susceptible of radical improvement 
other than by the complete reconstruction of the 
plant, by the development of your operating organi- 











RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


141 


zation, and by the installation of those practical mod¬ 
ern methods that afford the executives complete con¬ 
trol of the operations of the plant in every essential 
detail. 

We strongly recommend the immediate and com¬ 
plete reconstruction of this plant, and we submit in 
the following statement a very definite suggestion as 
to the character and extent of the improvements we 
believe should be made. In fact, we present in 
briefed form a complete scheme of reconstruction 
and a general analysis of its essential features. 

It is specifically noted that in developing the sug¬ 
gested scheme much was predicated upon your pro¬ 
duction schedule for this year, after allowing for a 
twenty-five per cent probable future increase in the 
output of machines and equipments and a fifty per 
cent increase in repair and spare parts. 

II. The Proposed Reconstructed Plant.—Giving 
due consideration to all the factors governing your 
operations as absorbed during our investigation, we 
submit in Plan 2, Figure 20, our suggestions for the 
reconstruction of this property. This plan, in con¬ 
junction with the subsequent explanations, affords a 
comprehensive statement of our recommendations. 

At first glance our developed study may seem 
elaborate, but it is not. We present the layout of 
only such a modern plant as you need; one that is 
fairly representative of your Company and its busi¬ 
ness, and adapted to the economic manufacture of 
your product. It is, however, a preliminary sturdy, 
and as such is subject to such improving modifica¬ 
tions in development and detail as may be brought 


142 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


out in thorough discussions of this matter with your 
officials and operating heads and a more thorough 
analysis of your operating processes and methods. 

General Description.—The plant is laid out in two 
separate dvisions: the Main Manufacturing Unit, and 
the Lumber Yard,—each fully enclosed to prevent 
unauthorized entry, and both easy of plant inter¬ 
communication with means provided, through tunnel 
and conveyor, for the convenient and economic de¬ 
livery of seasoned lumber to the Wood-AYorking 
Shop. 

The Main Manufacturing Plant comprises in brief 
the following: 

1. General Offices. —The present office building, to be en¬ 
larged by a 21x39 ft. two-story brick addition and rearranged 
to effect greater convenience and efficiency in the general of¬ 
fice work. 

2. Foundry .—This unit, recently built, to remain prac¬ 
tically without change, except for the complete installation 
of the operating equipment you have planned. 

3. Blacksmith and Forge Shop. —A new 30 ft. wide by 50 
ft. and 66 ft. long fireproof building adjacent to and adjoin¬ 
ing the foundry and communicating therewith. 

4. Rough Castings Storage , Pattern-Making , and Pattern 
Storage. —A new two-story fireproof building 50 ft. wide by 
63% ft. and 91% ft. long, providing ample space for the 
storage of light and medium weight rough castings on the 
ground floor; and space for the Pattern-Making Department 
and the storage of patterns on the second floor—these two 
latter departments being separated by a fireproof terra cotta 
tile partition. 

5. Machine Shops , Saiv and Brush Making, and Giiu- 
Assembling Shops. —A new two-story fireproof building 50 





RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


143 



FIG. 20. PLAN 2, PROPOSED RECONSTRUCTION OF 
COTTON-GIN PLANT 

ft. wide by 80 ft. long, and 50 ft. wide by 120 ft. long. This 
building affords opportunity for the very efficient arrange¬ 
ment of the shops noted, as may be seen by reference to 
Figure 21 and Figure 22 and to the detailed discussion later. 

The machine shop occupies the ground floor, and the saw 
and brush-making and the gin-assembling shops occupy the 
' second floor. 

6. Wood-Working Plant, and Painting, Finishing, and 
Crating Shops .—These consist of a new three-story fireproof 
building 70 ft. wide by 150 ft. long. The wood machine 
shop or planing mill occupies the ground floor; the wood 
parts assembling and wood construction shops, the second 















144 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



floor, and the shop for painting, finishing, and crating ma¬ 
chines is located on the third floor. 

The layout of the Wood Machine Shop may be noted by 
reference to Figure 23 and the detailed discussion thereon. 

7. Sheet-Metal-Working Plant .—A new two-story fireproof 
building of irregular shape, 50 ft. wide and an average length 
of 209 ft. for the first story and 197 ft. for the second story. 
The sheet-metal manufacturing shop occupies the ground floor 
with the exception of the west end of the building,—a por¬ 
tion of which is set off by a partition for exhibition purposes. 

The second floor provides an extensive floor space for paint¬ 
ing, crating and the storage of sheet steel piping and fittings. 
The general arrangement of the Sheet-Metal Shop is shown in 
Figure 24, and is described in the accompanying text. 

8. Power Plant .—This is an entirely new plant housed in 





























RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


145 



FIG. 22. PROPOSED BRUSH-MAKING AND GIN-ASSEMBLING 

DEPARTMENTS 

a fireproof building 50 by GO feet. The general arrangement 
of the plant is clearly shown in Figure 20. It is designed for 
a maximum of economy in operation, with the mechanical 
delivery of fuel—coal, sawdust, and wood waste—to an over¬ 
head storage bin, and the automatic stoking of the boilers. 
Power is generated electrically and is transmitted to group 
drive motors—the exhaust from the engine being used to 
operate the lumber dry kiln. 

Current for the electric lighting of the works is taken from 
the power current through transformers. Provision is made 
for using city breakdown service in case of accident or other 
shut-down emergency. 

9. War eh oases .—The present warehouse is to be utilized 
with the addition of extended receiving and shipping plat¬ 
forms. All manufacturing operations to be removed from the 




































t 

146 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 23. PROPOSED LAYOUT OF WOOD MACHINE SHOP 


warehouses to their respective shops as provided, thus mak¬ 
ing the warehouses available entirely for warehouse service. 

10. Lumber Yard .—The lumber yard, located across the 
railroad from the main property, comprises a complete plant 
for the unloading, stacking, air and kiln drying of lumber, 
and for the storage of seasoned stock under covered sheds. A 
concrete tunnel under the railroad tracks connects the two 
plants; the lumber to be delivered from the yard to the works 
by a motor-operated conveyor. 

Types of Buildings.—A general discussion of plnat 
operations and the ways and means provided there¬ 
for in the reconstructed plant will illustrate many 
of the important features of the submitted plans. 

We have planned for the removal of all frame 


























RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


147 



FIG. 24. PROPOSED LAYOUT OF SHEET-METAL SHOP 

buildings and for the construction of a “fireproof” 
plant. The type of building adopted for the new 
plant should be either reinforced concrete or steel 
frame with brick “curtain-walls,” and hollow tile 
and concrete roofs. Our recommendation is that as 
the General Offices and the Warehouses are sub¬ 
stantial buildings of brick, and as the new foundry 
is steel frame with brick walls, it would be unwise 
to depart radically from this type. 

Construction Features.—Steel frame structures are 
therefore advised, having concrete foundations with 
brick pilasters and brick belt courses, or curtain- 
walls, below and above “Fenestra” sash extending 
from pilaster to pilaster. The sash should be fitted 
with factory-ribbed glass, except where wire glass 






































148 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


is otherwise provided for as in the pattern-storage 
room, elevator and stair wells, etc.; and all windows, 
unless otherwise specified, should he equipped with 
approximately 30 per cent adjustable ventilating sash. 

The main or “ground” floor of all buildings 
should be creosoted block paving, laid on 6 inches 
of concrete and joints grouted with cement. This 
makes the best possible working floor, pleasant, effi¬ 
cient, and durable. All ground floors should be fin¬ 
ished approximately level with the yard, with pro¬ 
vision for proper yard drainage. 

The first-floor ceiling of all two or three-story 
buildings should be approximately 16 feet from top 
of floor to underside of second floor beams; 15 feet 
from top of second floors to the underside of third 
floor beams, and 14 feet in the clear of the third 
story. These heights, with extra large windows and 
with the walls all finished in white, will provide 
light and well ventilated operating floors. 

All roofs should be practically flat,—steel beams, 
terra cotta hollow tile, flat arch construction, covered 
with three inches of cinder concrete (six inches at 
center line of roof or sufficient to provide a slope of 
14 inch per foot), and finished with Barrett Specifica¬ 
tion roof. This type of roof construction, while ex¬ 
pensive in first cost, is the most durable and sat¬ 
isfactory possible; furthermore, it will prove cool and 
comfortable to the plant workers, the air chambers 
in the tiles having a very marked effect in retard¬ 
ing radiation, both heat and cold. 

All building walls should be carried above the 
roofs and finished with a glazed coping tile. All 





RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


149 


roof glitters should be formed in with the cinder con¬ 
crete and sloped to cast-iron leaders, properly 
spaced, and discharging to tile drains or other run¬ 
offs below the yard level. All flashings should he 
heavy-gauge copper, or Barrett “Flex-Lock” and Holt 
connectors should be used for all leaders and vents. 

The Machine, Wood-Working, and Slieet-Metal 
Shops are to have outside tower elevators and stairs, 
with additional inside elevators and stairs fully en¬ 
closed with fireproof partitions or protected, in the 
case of elevators, by automatic drop doors. All shop 
doors are to be of the fireproof type. No special 
elevator is deemed necessary for the Castings and 
Pattern-Storage Building, as the second floor of this 
building is in direct communication with the second 
floor of the Machine Shop, and its elevator is located 
closely adjacent to the connecting bridge. 

Service Facilities.—All shops are to be equipped 
with complete lavatories affording convenient and 
sanitary toilet accommodations. The lavatory walls 
are to be finished with extra hard white enamel 
paint; the concrete floors to be finished with an extra 
hard waterproofed wearing surface; wash sinks to 
be white enamel sanitary ware; urinals of hard slate 
and provided with continuous flush; toilets of porce¬ 
lain or white enameled sanitary ware, with split sani¬ 
tary seats—push button flushes. The entire lavatory 
is to be so finished that it may be daily flushed with 
water—ceiling, side walls, and equipment. 

All shops are to be equipped with sanitary drink¬ 
ing fountains of the continuous bubbling type, placed 
conveniently at economic intervals. With such equip- 


100 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

s 

ment properly spaced, an appreciable total of the 
employees’ time will be saved. No ice will be re¬ 
quired with the proposed water supply system, for 
it is to come from an artesian well by means of a 
tower tank, the drinking water passing through a 
continuous cooling plant electrically operated and 
located in the power house. 

All employees should be supplied with sanitary, 
expanded metal lockers placed at convenient points 
in the several shops. Some convenient and com¬ 
fortable space should be provided for a luncheon 
and smoking room, and a “first-aid” room with 
proper equipment should be located at some central 
point in the plant, preferably adjoining the General 
Stores Department and in the east end of the ware¬ 
house. 

Heating, Ventilating, and Lighting.—The foundry 

and the machine shop building, the wood-working, 
and the sheet-metal plants should be heated by the 
hot-blast system, the apparatus consisting in each 
instance of a motor-driven “Buffalo” blower, a bank 
of steam coils or “Vento” stacks, and galvanized 
iron distributing ducts. This same system, properly 
laid out, may be used during the oppressively warm 
weather for a thorough circulation of fresh air 
throughout the shops, and this will materially cool 
the shops and add to the general efficiency of the 
operators. 

The foundry system of forced circulation of air 
should be operated practically throughout the year, 
and this, with the addition of ventilating ducts in the 
foundry roof, connected to the exhaust system of the 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


151 


blacksmith forges should entirely overcome the pres¬ 
ent poor ventilation of the casting floor. 

The offices, castings storage, and pattern shops, and 
the warehouse office should be heated by means of 
steam coils, with radiators in the offices,—all on the 
lov T -pressure, vacuum-return system. 

All buildings are planned to be electrically lighted, 
with current developed at plant. Tungsten lamps 
should be used throughout; and these should be effi¬ 
ciently grouped, with properly designed reflectors for 
general lighting, augmented by such drop or adjust¬ 
able cord lamps as may be required about the machines. 

Water Supply and Fire Protection.—The entire 
plant is planned to be equipped with an automatic 
sprinkling system for fire protection, in accordance 
with the Board of Underwriters’ requirements. The 
plant water supply as previously stated, is to come 
from artesian wells, with auxiliary city service by 
means of an accessible hydrant for fire protection. 
The artesian w r ell water is to be raised by a motor- 
driven pump to a steel tower tank, of 50,000 gallons 
capacity, at a height sufficient to afford the required 
presure demanded by the Underwriters’ for fire pro¬ 
tection. 

Yard Paving.—We would recommend, as being par¬ 
ticularly effective in your operations, paving the 
working yard with creosoted wood blocks, laid on 
six inches of concrete, within the limits defined by 
the shaded portion on the General Plan. 

Handling Materials.—We also recommend proper 
facilities for the handling and transfer of materials, 
such as industrial railway, transveyors, trucks, over- 




152 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

head trolley hoists, and a crane in the machine shop, 
together with two or three lA/^-ton portable shop 
cranes. 

One or more trollev hoists should be installed on 
the warehouse platform, and a gin pole or derrick 
should be erected in the lumber yard for handling 
boilers, heavy timbers, etc., 

Storage Facilities.—You will note that in the gen¬ 
eral plan of the proposed plant, Figure 20, we have 
shown convenient storage spaces for coke, pig iron, 
and scrap metals (practically the space now so 
used), also a considerable yard for the storage of 
foundry equipment, flasks, etc. AVe have also pro¬ 
vided bar iron, pipe, and shafting racks, and a large 
yard storage space for heavy castings and other 
parts, adjacent and conveniently accessible to the 
heavy working floor of the machine shops. 

A separate fireproof building is provided for paint 
and oil stores, adjacent and convenient to the wood 
working building which houses all hazardous risks 
such as wood working and painting. 

In locating all “general stores” in the warehouse, 
under the direct control of the warehouse foreman, 
we have relocated the yard platform scales to a posi¬ 
tion accessible to the Clerk of Stores. 

In connection with the sheet-metal-working shops, 
provision has been made for readily unloading in¬ 
coming materials and for the shipment of finished 
products by means of an open shipping platform and' 
trolley hoists on both floors. 

The Lumber Yard.—Economical facilities for de¬ 
livering lumber, received on the convevor, to the 

0 ^ 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


153 


wood-working machines are provided hv the wood¬ 
block paving of the Yard, and we would recommend 
the transfer of lumber from the conveyor transfer 
table, or rolls, to ball-bearing trucks delivering to 
machines. It may be noted that the Wood Machine 
Shops are provided with exceedingly liberal door 
openings, and the doors, containing large wire-glass 
windows, will not obstruct light when closed. 

The facilities for handling lumber are quite clearly 
detailed in Figure 20. A spur track runs the full 
length of this property, affording 300 feet of storage 
space oh each side of the track, with additional space 
within the Yard.' The tracks of the drv kiln are so 
extended and connected with the spur siding that 
the kiln cars may be run adjacent to the lumber to 
be kiln dried, and loaded with a minimum of han¬ 
dling expense. 

The kiln dried lumber may be run on the kiln 
cars to a point adjacent to the desired storage space 
in the seasoned lumber sheds and readily stacked, or, 
if if is desired for immediate use, it may be unloaded 
from the cars on the kiln platform directly upon the 
the transfer rolls of the conveyor. Additional cars 
should be provided for readily handling lumber in 
restacking, or for transferring air-seasoned stock to 
the Storage Shed. A platform walk or runway is 
shown for the full length of the Storage Sheds (32b 
feet) as an aid in getting out the stock required by 
the Wood Shop. We would recommend the installa¬ 
tion of an industrial railway and cars on this run¬ 
way as materially aiding the rapid collection and 
transfer of stock to the conveyor. 


154 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


All the lumber yard operations should be placed 
under the control of a Yard Foreman, and to that 
end we have shown a lumber yard office sufficient for 
the business of the plant. We have also provided a 
building to house the locker room and the lavatories 
required by the Yard employees. 

For the delivery of lumber from the Yard to the 
Wood-Working Plant, we would most strongly rec¬ 
ommend the tunnel-conveyor shown, for it provides 
a very satisfactory and cheap means of transfer. 
Such a tunnel under the railroad tracks and right- 
of-way must be built, of course, in accordance with 
plans approved by the railroad company. We would 
suggest a reinforced concrete tunnel, approximately 
seven feet high and six feet wide in the clear, pro¬ 
viding ample space for conveyor and passageway. 

The conveyor should be of the continuous type, 
with close slat bed and operated from the Main- 
Plant or Wood-Shop end, so that lumber may be 
received only as fast as removed. The power re¬ 
quired for operating the conveyor would probably not 
exceed 10 to 15 horsepower when delivering 4,000 to 
5,000 feet of lumber per hour. We have provided an 
operator’s house for general shelter and for housing 
the conveyor motor and controlling mechanism. 

Arrangement of Buildings.—It will be noted on 
Plan 2, Figure 20, Page 143, that all buildings are 
separated by a distance of 30 feet, thus meeting the 
Underwriters’ requirements and providing wide 
driveways and good working yards. Overhead steel 
bridges connect the General Offices with the Sheet- 
Metal Shops, the Wood-Working Plant, and the Ma- 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


155 


chine Shops, and like connection is afforded between 
Machine and Pattern-Making Shop and the Machine 
and Wood shops. The transfer of finished machines 
from the paint shops, occupying the third story of 
the Wood-Working Building, is by means of a bridge 
to and runway over the Machine-Shop Building, and 
across a bridge to the third floor of the warehouse 
at a point adjacent to one of the warehouse elevators. 

The main plant should be enclosed with an eight 
foot high brick wall, with ornamental iron gates at 
the three main entrances on Elm Street; frame doors 
will afford access in the wall along the railroad tracks, 
and anchor-post steel-framed wire gates at the rail¬ 
way and driveway entrance at the northwest corner 
of the Works. The lumber yards should be enclosed 
by an eight foot high anchor-post wire fence fitted 
with three strands of protecting barb wire along the 
top. Gates should be of steel frame, with heavy wire 
mesh covering—all standard anchor-post type. 

Within the lumber yards we have located the 
works stables and garage, the present garage to be 
converted into stables and a new fireproof garage 
erected which will meet the needs of your plant. 

Routing of Materials and Work.—The foregoing 
description of the plant and facilities provided for 
the carrying on of your operations quite fully indi¬ 
cates the manner and method of work; but it may be 
further briefly noted that the proposed reconstruc¬ 
tion makes for improved operation in the following 
respects: 

All incoming manufacturing materials are received 
at four points, the warehouses, the foundry, the sheet- 


156 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


metal shops, and the lumber yards. From the foun¬ 
dry the eastings go from cleaning room by industrial 
railway or transveyor trucks to castings stores, light 
castings to the stores bins, heavy castings to yard 
storage. From stores the castings should go on order 
to the machine shop, and thence, when finished, by 
truck and elevator to storage bins in the gin-assem¬ 
bling shops. Stores from the warehouse or other stock 
should be issued and transferred only on order. 

Lumber is transferred by convevor and trucks to 
the machines of the wood shop, and thence the cut 
stock proceeds by elevator to the wood-assembling 
and part of it continues by bridge to the gin-assemb¬ 
ling shops, where it is stocked in “parts” racks. 

Machines are assembled in the gin shops and trans¬ 
ferred by' bridge and elevator to the paint shops. The 
machines assembled in the wood assembling shops 
are transferred by elevator to the paint shops, where 
all are painted, finished, and crated, and delivered by' 
trucks over bridge and runway to the warehouses. 

The sheet-metal plant operates somewhat as an in¬ 
dependent unit, receiving its own materials and mak¬ 
ing up the product on the first floor of the shops. It 
is then transferred by 7 elevator or electric hoist 
through a floor-well to the painting and crating shops 
above. Finished product is stored on this second 
floor, and shipment, in large part, is made direct 
from these stores; the product for shipment being 
transferred by electric trolley 7 hoists to the shipping 
platform. 

Control of Operations.—The proposed reconstructed 
plant presents a physical layout and arrangement 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


157 


affording opportunity for. effective executive control 
with which the possibilities of the present plant are 
incomparable. The work of the proposed plant is 
carried on in logical sequence, with operations con¬ 
solidated along clean-cut departmental lines and the 
definition of operating responsibilities are clearly fixed. 

The proposed arrangement makes possible the in¬ 
stallation of a simple and practical system of pro¬ 
duction and costs, thus affording the operating execu¬ 
tives the information required for the economic di¬ 
rection of plant operations. It is hardly reasonable 
to submit herewith a comparison of operating costs 
between the present plant and the proposed recon¬ 
structed property, for it could be but a rough esti¬ 
mate at best. Much depends upon the extent to 
which all the proposed facilities for “ reduction of 
costs ” are used, and again, such a result is subject 
in a marked degree to the personal equation; that 
is, the development of your executive organization 
and the application of the effective possibilities of 
operating control offered by the proposed plant. 

Nevertheless, it is very evident from a study of the 
plans and the description submitted that savings are 
possible in practically every phase of your opera¬ 
tions. Direct labor costs of manufacturing will be 
markedly reduced by proper operating facilities and 
the greater control afforded operating foremen. 
Again, the efficiency of the workmen will be increased 
by surrounding them with good physical conditions, 
—air, light, heat, lockers, lavatories, etc. Indirect 
labor costs will be considerably reduced in practically 
every department of the works. 


158 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


A very considerable sum will be saved in plant in¬ 
surance; much in the handling of lumber, and in the 
transfer and handling of all other manufacturing 
supplies. Extravagance, waste, and other losses may 
be controlled and minimized. Losses by theft, be¬ 
cause of the present open and unprotected plant, may 
be entirely eliminated by the enclosure of the plant 
as suggested. 

Cost of the Proposed Reconstruction.—In our opin¬ 
ion a fairly close estimate of the cost of the entire 
reconstruction of the plant, as suggested and recom¬ 
mended, would approximate $325,000. This estimate 
follows: 


1. Extension of General Officies.$ 4,830 

2. Foundry Heating and Ventilating. 2,065 

3. Machine-Shop Building. 52,500 

4. Blacksmith Shop. 2,635 

5. Rough Castings-Storage and Pattern Storage 

Building, including Pattern-Makers Shop.... 8,635 

6. Wood-Working Building. 75,900 

7. Sheet-Metal Plant Building. 49,260 

8. Power House Building. 8,115 

9. Miscellaneous Buildings. 5,375 

10. Yard Paving: Wood block on concrete. 4,700 

11. Connecting Overhead Bridges and Runway. 2,100 

12. Industrial Railway System with Cars. 1,225 

13. Lumber Yard Spur Track, etc. 3,985 

14. Concrete Tunnel under railroad tracks together 

with conveyor and transfer tables complete... 9,500 

15. Bar Iron, Pipe, and Shafting Racks. 750 















RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


159 


16. Water Supply, Fire Protection and Sprinkler 
System for the entire Plant, including 50,000 


gallon tower tank. 14,450 

17. Power Plant Equipment. 22,450 

18. Removing the equipment of the present shops 

into the new buildings. 7,500 

19. New Plant Equipment; such as work benches, 

tables, stock bins, lockers, etc. 3,650 

20. New Machinery Required for the Machine Shop 

Tool Room. 16,250 

21. Brick Walls enclosing the Main Plant. 3,750 

total .$299,625 

Engineering Fee and Expenses. 25,000 


TOTAL ESTIMATED COST .$324,625 


Time Required for Work.—Attention is called to 
the fact that the proposed reconstruction may be 
taken up and carried through to completion in its 
entirety within less than one year, without in any 
way seriously affecting operations or delaying out¬ 
put. The method of progression in the erection as 
planned should be somewhat as follows. 

1st—Power Plant; 

2nd—Sheet-Metal Shops; 

3rd—Wood-Working Building; 

4th—Lumber Yards; 

5th—Machine-Shop Building; 

6th—Blacksmith Shop ; 

7th—Castings and Pattern Storage and Pattern-Mak¬ 
ing Building; 

8th—Enlarge the Offices. 













160 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 











FIG. 25. GENERAL LAYOUT OF RECONSTRUCTED COTTON-GIN PLANT 



































































RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


161 



FIG. 26 . FRONT ELEVATION OF RECONSTRUCTED PLANT 

It will be seen that Unit Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 may be 
constructed without distributing any existing plants 
excepting the Sheet-Metal Buildings, and these shops 
may be housed with little expense in the new Wood- 
Working Building, or elsewhere temporarily. Then 
the Offices may be enlarged as soon as the present 
Lumber Sheds are removed. When Unit No. 2 is 
completed and the Wood-Working Plant established 
therein, the present Wood-Working Plant may be 
razed and the new Machine-Shop Building, Unit No. 
5, erected. When the machinery is installed in the 
new building, the present Machine Shop may be 
razed, and Units Nos. (i and 7 constructed. This 
plan does not necessitate a second move for any shop, 
except the Gin-Assembling Department now on the 
second floor of the present Wood-Working Plant. 

Result of the Report.—Some thirty days after the 
delivery of the foregoing report, the directors again 
called the engineers into conference and stated, in 
brief, that they had given serious consideration to the 
conclusions and recommendations presented. A spe- 









162 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


cial committee, composed of several of the operating 
officials, each of whom was a managing director of 
some one of their several plants, had reviewed the 
entire situation, even to the extent of visiting the 
plant. After an extended study, this committee had 
given it as their opinion that the recommendations 
in the engineers’ report should be carried out, but 
with even a somewhat greater enlargement of the 
plant than therein indicated. They believed the plant 
should be made the most modern in every respect and 
that in fact be rebuilt with the idea of making it 
the Company’s “show” plant in the South and one 
that would fairly represent the character of the com¬ 
pany and its products. 

The directors decided to follow the recommenda¬ 
tions of their committee, and the engineers were re¬ 
tained to continue and complete their preliminary 
investigations and studies, present a final general 
scheme for the development of the property and, 
upon its approval, to proceed with the preparation 
of the necessary detailed plans, specifications and 
contracts for the immediate undertaking of the work. 

Arrangement of New Plant.—The layout and gen¬ 
eral arrangement of the reconstructed or “new” 
plant is quite clearly shown in Plan 8, Figure 25, and 
in Figure 2G. The character of the reconstruction 
and the type of buildings may be observed by refer¬ 
ence to Figures 27 and 28 of the Elm Street frontage, 
and to Figure 29 showing the rear elevation of the 
Power House and of the Sheet-Metal Shops. Com¬ 
pare these views of the new plant with that of the 
old shown in Figure 19, page 137. 








RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


163 



FIGS. 27 AND 28 . GENERAL CHARACTER OF NEW BUILDINGS 

The great advantage of the arrangement shown in 
Figure 25 over that suggested in the preliminary 
study, Figure 20, is the better concentration of all 
the main manufacturing operations within one set 























164 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 29. RtL\H OF POWER HOUSE AND SHEET-METAL. BUILDING 

of connected buildings and the providing of a new 
Administration Building, designed especially for the 
existing needs of the Company and its quieter loca¬ 
tion; for, while isolated, it is conveniently situated. 

Handling Incoming Materials.—The Company man¬ 
ufactures and installs complete cotton-ginning plants, 
so that the incoming materials are of several classes 
and of two distinct types,—those that are to be re¬ 
shipped with little of any ‘ 4 working/ ’ such as boil¬ 
ers, engines, blowers, motors, pipe and fittings; and 
those that are essentially “raw” materials or semi¬ 
finished materials to be worked up, such as foundry 
materials, lumber, sheet metal, bar and shafting ma¬ 
terials, and purchased accessories and parts. 





















RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


165 


Boilers, steel beams and large pipe are delivered 
at the Storage Yards on the north side of the railroad 
tracks and there held for shipment. At times these 
require a certain amount of work, such as cutting and 
drilling or painting, and motor and air-operated 
equipment is provided for these operations. 

Engines, motors, and blowers, which form auxiliary 
parts of the ginning plants, are received and stored 
in the Warehouse north of the railroad and adjoin¬ 
ing the Yard Storage. In both instances these ma¬ 
terials and equipments are transferred to and from 
the railroad siding directly to storage or for ship¬ 
ment. A crane is provided for handling the Yard 
materials and for transferring them between the 
cars and yard,—the Yard being paved at a grade ap¬ 
proximately level with the tracks. The warehouse 
floor is level with the shipping platform and the 
car floor, so that these equipments may be readily 
transferred by rollers, by trolley hoist, or by truck. 

Steel bar and shafting stock is received, as a rule, 
in carload lots on the siding at the west of the Main 
Plant; it is transferred to the bar and shaft Stock 
Room adjoining the Foundry by means of industrial 
railway flat cars. 

Foundry materials, pig iron, scrap, and coke are 
received on the siding north of the Foundry Build¬ 
ing and unloaded directly to their respective piles. 
Sand is purchased locally and is delivered in part by 
railroad shipment and in part by trucks and carts; 
in either case it is transferred from John Street di- 
rectlv into the sand bins on the west side of the 
Foundry Building. 


166 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Small diameter pipes and fittings, of which the 
Company uses large quantities, are received either 
in carload lots or by truck, and in either case they 
are delivered directly to the platforms on either side 
of the east end of the main Warehouse Building 
where they are stored on the first floor of this sec¬ 
tion. Sheet metals are usually received in carload 
shipments, and these are unloaded at the gate, just 
north of the Sheet Metal Shop, to industrial rail¬ 
way cars by which they are delivered direct to the 
stock racks of the sheet-metal Stock Boom on the 
first floor of the east wing of the Main Manufactur¬ 
ing Building. 

Coal for power plant use is received in hopper bot¬ 
tom cars and is transferred to the concrete coal 
pocket adjoining the Power House by means of a 
special portable unloader. About half the fuel re¬ 
quirements of the power plant are supplied by the 
waste of the wood-working plant, and this waste is 
automatically delivered by a blower system to an 
overhead bin in the boiler house. 

Miscellaneous accessories and supplies, such as belt¬ 
ing, canvas, chains, lubricators, bolts, nuts, hardware 
and innumerable small parts, are received by truck 
and delivered to the platforms on the east side of the 
east wing of the Main Building and at once placed in 
4 ‘general stores” which occupies so large a part of 
the first floor of this wing of the building. 

The lumber vard is located on the north side of 
the railroad tracks and is laid out for the storage 
and easy handling of approximately two million feet 
annually, which is practically one-third more than the 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


167 


present requirements. Lumber is received in carload 
shipments on either one of the spur sidings. As it is 
unloaded, it is placed without any cartage or retrans¬ 
fer directly in any one of the six stacks adjacent to 
the sidings. The operations of the lumber yard and 
the method of handling the lumber to and from the 
stacks, the kiln and the wood-working plant, are 
very clearly indicated in the General Plan, Figure 
25 and are substantially as described in the pre¬ 
liminary report. 

Routing of Work in Process.—All foundry ma¬ 
terials—pig, scrap, and coke—are delivered to the 
cupola by elevator. Overhead trolleys and travelling 
crane aid in the quick and easy pouring of large cast¬ 
ings and in the later transfer of the castings to the 
Cleaning Room. From the Cleaning Room the cast¬ 
ings are delivered to the Castings-Storage Building 
by means of industrial railway cars; here they are 
stocked in racks and bins which run from floor to 
ceiling, access to the upper bins being by stairs and 
gallery walkways. 

All materials and parts from the castings stores, 
from bar and shaft stock, from the forge shop, and 
from the pipe stock in the main warehouse, are de¬ 
livered to the Machine Shop in large lot orders by 
means of industrial railway cars or other trucks; 
when finished they go by elevator to the finished- 
parts stock on the second floor over the Machine 
Shop. See Floor Diagrams in Figure 30. 

Lumber for the Wood-Working Plant is brought 
over from the lumber yard through the tunnel con- 
vevor and on industrial railway cars that may be run 


168 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




Aionsimint e» 3 kond f look 3hs»> 



FIG. 30. FLOOR DIAGRAMS, SHOWING THE RELATIVE LOCATION OF 
DEPARTMENTS IN THE MAIN MANUFACTURING BUILDING 

























































RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


169 


alongside the lumber shed of the wood-working plant 
for distribution to the point required. All lumber is 
dressed and otherwise prepared and cut to general 
dimensions on the first floor of the wood-shop build¬ 
ing and then is forwarded by elevator to the carpen¬ 
ter shop on the second floor; large and special pieces 
which may be finished in the main wood shop are 
sent direct to the Final-Assembly Room on the third 
floor or, as in the case of certain heavy timbers, di¬ 
rect to the first floor of the warehouse for shipment. 

The work finished in the carpenter shop is partly 
held there in stock racks for later forwarding to the 
adjoining Parts-Assembly Room; the balance of the 
finished work is forwarded directlv to the Parts- 
Assembly Room, and as the metal and wood parts 
are assembled and finished they are forwarded to the 
stock racks and bins in the final or Machine-Assembly 
Department on the third floor of the building. 

Sheet metal parts that are to be incorporated into 
the machines are fabricated on the second floor of 
the Sheet-Metal Building and sent to the stock room 
on the third floor, and are then drawn as needed. 

The assembled machines, mounted on special trans- 
vevor truck platform, are delivered as finished to the 
paint shops. As soon as the machines are painted, 
they are quickly dried by a special process and for¬ 
warded to the crating room; here they are boxed and 
forwarded by truck over the bridge which leads to 
the third floor of the Warehouse. The bridge en¬ 
trance to the Warehouse is closely adjacent to an 
elevator, by means of which the machines may be 
readily transferred to any floor of the Warehouse. 


170 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Shipment of finished machines is made direct to 
the cars on the spur siding north of the warehouses 
and adjacent to the platform which runs the full 
length of the building. Shipment of complete gin¬ 
ning plants is made by cars, in part from the main 
warehouses and in part from the storage yard and 
warehouse north of the railroad tracks, the cars being 
transferred by means of a complete four-track cross¬ 
over northwest of the property. 

Type of Buildings.—All of the new buildings on the 
main property are of reinforced concrete (flat slab 
type) with brick curtain walls, this includes also the 
Administration Building. Other structural details 
follow very closely the recommendations of the pre¬ 
liminary study as set forth in the preceding report. 

The ground floors of the main Manufacturing Plant 
anTT of the castings-storage building are wood block 
on a concrete base; all upper floors are of concrete 
with “master builders ’’ finish. The office building 
floors are all finished with “marbleloid,” a composi¬ 
tion flooring. The floors of the power plant building 
are part brick and part concrete. 

Column spacings in the Main Building are 25 feet 
centers both ways, excepting in the two wings which 
run north and south. Here 25 feet, 15 feet and 25 
feet are used, so as to afford a better spacing for the 
machines and a center aisle along which materials 
may be placed affords a broad space for travel. 

All of the window openings are large and fitted 
with steel sash that extend very close to the under¬ 
side of the flat slab ceiling and the interior of the 
buildings. Walls, ceilings, and columns are painted 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


171 



FIG. 31 . INTERIOR VIEW OF MAIN BUILDING 


gloss “mill white’’ with a green dado carried around 
all walls and columns for a height of 3% feet above 
the floor level. This treatment, together with the 
high ceilings, results in an exceptionally good dis¬ 
tribution of light throughout every part of the build¬ 
ings. A general idea of the interior appearances may 
be had by reference to Figures 31, 32 and 33. 

All of the buildings, that is, the offices, the main 
manufacturing plant, the castings-storage and pat¬ 
tern shop building, .and the warehouses, are connected 
by overhead bridges. These bridges, with the ex¬ 
ception of that between the Main Building and the 
Warehouses, are of reinforced concrete; their gen¬ 
eral type is indicated in Figure 34. The bridge con- 























172 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIGS. 32 AND 33. VIEWS OF MAIN ENTRANCE AND HALLWAYS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING 






















RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


173 



FIG. 34. BRIDGE CONNECTION BETWEEN BUILDINGS 

necting the Main Building and the Warehouse is of 
structural steel with a concrete floor. 

The lumber shed on the north side of the wood¬ 
working shop is an interesting feature that has 
worked out very well. It was desired to have a 
good stock room or space available for incoming 
lumber convenient to the wood-working machines 
without crowding the shop; and it was, at the same 
time, necessary to protect this stock from the weather, 
as much of it was kiln dried. For this purpose the 
lumber shed wing was added, as shown in the Gen¬ 
eral Plan. The side walls were of brick, painted 


















174 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


gloss white on the inside; while the roof, carried by 
the walls and two steel trusses supported by steel 
columns on the north side, was made practically all 
glass. This scheme did not appreciably diminish the 
natural good lighting of the woodworking shop. 

Attention should be called, perhaps, to the location 
and arrangement of the stair elevator and toilet room 
towers of the Main Building which is noted in the 
General Plan, Figure 30; for both the location of 
and arrangement of these towers afforded facilities 
of unusual merit. In the first place, these towers are 
exterior of the main building, and thus afford fire¬ 
proofed exits in case of emergency. In the second 
place this plan removes all toilet rooms from the 
building proper, and provides for these rooms excel¬ 
lent light and ventilation. In the third place, their 
locations with respect to the building are such that 
no one has to travel a greater distance than 125 
feet from the most remote part of the building to 
reach the stairs, the elevators, or the toilet rooms. 
Furthermore, as each floor of the Main Building is 
divided into several different operating departments, 
it was desired to so arrange the stairs, elevators, 
and toilet rooms that they might be entered from 
any one department without passing through any 
other department. 

Consider, first, the tower adjoining the Machine 
and AVood-Working Shop: One may enter the stair 
well directly from the Machine Shop, or through the 
passageway from the AA’ood Shop, and pass directly 
from the stair well into the toilet rooms which, in 
this instance, are provided in two units because of 


RECONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION 


175 


the employment of both white and colored labor in 
these two shops. The elevator in this tower is pro¬ 
vided with doors opening both into the Machine Shop 
and into the Wood Shop, and may be used by either. 
It is used by the Wood Shop, however, only in cases 
of emergency, as the large elevator in the northeast 
corner is provided particularly for the use of the 
Wood Shop jointly with the Sheet-Metal Shop. 

Referring now to the tower adjoining the wood¬ 
working and sheet-metal shops, it may be noted that 
entrance to this stair well and from thence to the 
toilet room may be made directly from either shop, 
or through the connecting passage to and from either 
shop. It is also seen that the elevator, which is of 
unusual size, with a 10 by 22 foot platform, is so 
placed as to be very convenient for the needs of 
both shops and the transfer of long stock, sheet 
metal or lumber to the carpenter and sheet-metal 
shops on the floors above. 

These towers, as designed and constructed, present 
many conveniences and certain sanitary and safety 
features that are valuable. Not the least of these is 
the concentration of such service facilities and their 
location at central points which are within con¬ 
venient range of the most distant parts of the build¬ 
ing, thus reducing the time and distance of travel of 
both employees and materials. 

Practically all the other important or principal 
features of interest in the arrangement of the plant 
and in the design of the buildings follow the descrip¬ 
tion laid down in the preliminary studies embodied in 
the foregoing report and its supplementary discussions. 


CHAPTER VII 


A DISCUSSION OF RECONSTRUCTION VERSUS 

NEW PLANT 

Factors Underlying Development.—A clear illustra¬ 
tion of the importance and relative values of many 
of the factors underlying the development of in¬ 
dustrial plants and the design of factory buildings 
was brought out in a rather complete report discus¬ 
sing the best ways and means of developing the 
manufacturing facilities of a long established hat fac¬ 
tory; and because the report is so fairly representa¬ 
tive of like problems prevalent in so many industries 
it is presented here as an excellent example for study. 
Its appreciation may be added to, perhaps, by a brief 
outline of the conditions and discussions which led 
up to the making of the investigation, and the rea¬ 
sons for the extended studies which are presented 
in so much detail in the report. The occasion for it 
was one of these instances in which absolute neces¬ 
sity demanded some radical action; but just what the 
action should be, officials of the Company could not 
agree. 

Preliminary Steps.—The directors of the Company 
and the operating officials of the factory did entirely 
concur, however, in agreeing that the manufactur¬ 
ing conditions in their old and overcrowded plant, 
had reached such an impossible state that the time 
had come when they must reconstruct or otherwise 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


177 


modernize and extend the plant and materially in¬ 
crease its output. They decided, therefore, unanimously, 
to call in an architect, who had designed a num¬ 
ber of buildings for other hat-manufacturing plants, 
and requested him to submit a brief report and gen¬ 
eral plans for such a plant as they had in mind and 
as he would further suggest. It was the thought of 
the Directors that a four or five-story building would 
best meet their needs, and that this might be erected 
on the site of the present plant. The architect eventu¬ 
ally submitted the requested report, and this em¬ 
bodied a plot plan to show a general outline of the 
reconstructed plant, a set of floor plans to show the 
relative locations of the several departments, and an 
elevation and cross-section of the building. The re¬ 
port itself described in three or four pages the sug¬ 
gested type of building, its estimated cost, and the 
square feet of floor space allotted to each department. 

This report gave the Directors only two things,— 
an outline of a good-looking modern building, and an 
estimate of what such a type of building with floor 
space equal to what they believed was required, 
would cost. But the net result was that the Directors 
were just as much as ever at sea as to their needs. 

It was finally decided to hold the matter of a new 
plant in abeyance for another year or two, with the 
understanding that the Works Manager would try 
to develop, in a general way at least, a definite state¬ 
ment of what was required. Meanwhile all hands 
would make an endeavor to increase the output of 
the existing plant, and to better operating conditions 
and methods, insofar as such proved feasible with- 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


out too great an expenditure for physical improve¬ 
ments that might he a complete loss if a new plant 
should be built within two or three years. 

This appeared to some of the officials as a rather 
disheartening decision, and it was,—because the 
physical arrangements and conditions of the plant 
simply prohibited anything at all like satisfactory 
operating conditions, or any material increase in the 
production of the product. It did not, however, kill 
the spirit of the Works Manager; he did affect some 
changes of material benefit, and furthermore he 
studied and planned for the future. 

Definite Action Required.—In 1916 the demands of 
the business exerted such a pressure on the factory 
that the directors of the Company concluded some 
radical action must be taken within the year to in¬ 
crease production and reduce operating expenses at 
no matter what cost. It was then that the Works 
Manager laid before them a carefully prepared state¬ 
ment of what he believed was required in all the 
plant departments, and with this he presented a 
sketch of what he termed an ideal plant reconstructed 
on the site of the existing plant. This led to pro¬ 
longed discussions and to irreconcilable differences 
of opinion as to whether to reconstruct the present 
plant or build a new plant on another site. But it 
was eventually agreed to put the problem before out¬ 
side engineers who specialized in industrial plant de¬ 
velopments, state to them the conditions as they ap¬ 
peared, and request them to report specifically and in 
detail what, in their judgment, should be done to 
meet the conditions at issue. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


179 


Such engineers were later called in conference and 
after listening to prolonged statements and argu¬ 
ments, they made the following deductions, to which 
all agreed:—That the present plant was poorly ar¬ 
ranged, that it was expensive to operate, that it was 
inadequate and worn out, and that it was necessary 
for the Company to reduce its manufacturing costs 
and further advisable, if not actually necessary, to 
increase the productive output of the plant one hun¬ 
dred per cent. The question then was: Shall the 
Company permanently improve and develop its pres¬ 
ent plant, or build a new plant on a new site? If 
the former, what specifically should be done, and 
when and how? Also, what would the cost be, and 
what would be the operating possibilities? If the 
latter, which of three available sites and what ar¬ 
rangement and type of plant would best meet all 
requirements? And also, what would be its probable 
cost and operating results? 

All agreed that these briefed statements of the 
Company’s necessities and main questions at issue 
covered the matter accurately in concise form, and 
the engineers were then requested to make an in¬ 
vestigation and report of the plant and its operations 
in such manner as to be definite and convincing. It 
was further requested that irrespective of the con¬ 
clusions, the engineers should report fully on both 
propositions—improvement and development of pres¬ 
ent plant, and a new plant on a new site—and include 
in their report such a detailed statement and dis¬ 
cussion as would enable the Directors to make their 
own comparisons and conclude for themselves, from 



180 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


their then own knowledge, the method best meeting 
their immediate demands and possible future needs. 

The Investigation and Report.—Such an investiga¬ 
tion was made, and the report thereon presented 
verv definite conclusions and recommendations. These 
were augmented by detailed studies and discussions 
and were presented in three distinct parts covering, 
first, the existing plant; second, the possible develop¬ 
ment of the present property; and third, the recom¬ 
mended development of a new plant on another site. 

The Report is presented here with certain modi¬ 
fications; it has been briefed in parts, omitting cer¬ 
tain schedules and drawings not entirely necessary 
for the purpose of emphasizing the conditions or 
principles involved. 

The Report.—In accordance with your request we 
have made an investigation of your manufacturing 
operations and properties and a study of your operat¬ 
ing requirements for the purpose of recommending 
to you specific and practical ways and means of im¬ 
proving your manufacturing conditions and facilities, 
which will also provide for practically a 100-per cent 
increase in production, with an assured marked de¬ 
crease in operating costs without in any way lessen¬ 
ing, but if possible bettering, the high standard of 
quality of your product. 

In submitting our report on the results of this in¬ 
vestigation, we believe no extended discussion of the 
conditions of the present plant is necessary, for you 
are already convinced, from the study and considera¬ 
tion you have given this entire matter, that the pres¬ 
ent plant has “served its day” and now is not onlv 

4 * V 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


181 


inadequate for, but poorly adapted to, your require¬ 
ments. 

The questions at issue are: 

I. Shall the Company retain its present property and ef¬ 
fect its improvement and development, or shall it secure other 
property and build an entirely new plant? 

II. If the Company retains its present property, what can 
and should be done to meet its manufacturing requirements? 
What expenditure will this entail and when and how should 
the work be done ? 

III. If other property is to be secured and an entirely new 
plant constructed, what site is most adaptable, and what 
arrangement and type of plant would best meet requirements ? 
What investment would this demand and what results should 
such a plant effect? 

The investigation and study made by us were based 
primarily upon these manufacturing conditions: 

Present production of 250-dozen hats per day; i.e., 150 
“soft,” 50 “stiff,” and 50 “straws”; 

Desired production of 500-dozen hats per day; i.e., 300 
“soft,” 100 “stiff,” and 100 “straws.” 

The results of our investigation and study are pre¬ 
sented in the following report. For convenience and 
emphasis, however, we summarize our conclusions 
and recommendations, in the order of the issues 
above noted. 

I. New Plant on New Site Recommended.—It is 

our opinion, based upon careful consideration of 
all the controlling factors, that it would be a great 
mistake to attempt permanently to improve or de¬ 
velop the Company's present property. We are 


182 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


firmly convinced that the sound and practical action 
warranted is the purchase of a factory site in every 
way adaptable to the Company’s present and reason¬ 
able future requirements, and the construction of a 
new plant designed to afford a maximum of operat¬ 
ing convenience and efficiency and the utmost in 
manufacturing economy. 

II. Possibilities and Limitations of Present Prop¬ 
erty.—As to the practicability of the development of 
the Company’s present property, we note that it is 
possible by the purchase of all the property within 
the block upon which its present holdings are located, 
to build thereon a modern manufacturing plant fairly 
well adapted (with certain exceptions) to meet the 
present and the immediately desired manufacturing 
requirements of 500-dozen hats per day. Such a de¬ 
velopment would not provide direct railroad or water 
shipping facilities, however, nor would it afford “re¬ 
serve” coal storage or opportunity for the later in¬ 
stallations of a “carroting” plant for your own prepa¬ 
ration of fur. Again, certain departments would be 
somewhat restricted in available floor space, and 
storage for crated product would be rather limited. 

Furthermore, future plant growth would be totally 
impracticable, if not impossible, except by the exten¬ 
sion of the plant upon property separated therefrom 
by a public street; for while it would be quite feasible 
to provide for the later addition of other floors to 
the Finishing Plant, it would be really impossible to 
so extend the “wet” or Body-making Plant and 
maintain even reasonably satisfactory operating con¬ 
ditions therein. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 183 


Such a possible development (see Plan 3, Figure 
37, page 200) comprises a two-story and basement fur 
mixing and blowing plant on the corner of Lincoln 
and First Streets; a five-story “main” or finishing 
plant along both Grant and Second Streets, with the 
first and second floors of the Grant Street building 
used for blocking, stretching and dyeing, and for 
Drying and Stock Rooms respectively; a one-story 
body-making plant extending from First Street to 
the adjoining buildings on all sides; a two-story ma¬ 
chine and blocking-making shop on Lincoln Street, 
and a three-story Office Building at the corner of 
Lincoln and Second Streets,—in all a total of 165,000 
square feet of floor space. 

In our opinion such a complete and immediate de¬ 
velopment of your present property as that indicated 
for the daily production of 500-dozen hats, would cost 
approximately $600,000, including all the additional 
manufacturing machinery, tools, appliances and fa¬ 
cilities required for a plant complete in every essen¬ 
tial detail; also including the cost of the site now 
occupied by the Company, as well as the balance of 
property within the block so occupied which would 
be required. 

Should the Company elect to so develop its present 
property, the work should be undertaken only after 
the operating officials of the Company have received 
and approved, not only the complete detailed plans 
for the proposed plant, but also a fully detailed and 
comprehensive program of procedure of work from 
start to finish. Such a development entails razing 
the present plant in its entirety, with the exception 


184 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


of the power house; and this work together with the 
construction of the proposed plant, if it is to be 
carried on and completed with the possible minimum 
of interference with manufacturing operations and 
production, when once undertaken must be diligently 
pushed to its entire completion. There would be 
little, if any, practical advantage, but only increased 
and protracted confusion in plant operations if the 
Company attempted to spread such a development 
over a period of five or six years. Such a scheme is 
impracticable. Even under most favorable conditions 
such a development of the present property could not 
be completed within less than two years, because it 
must necessarily be done in three units in sequence, 
not in series, if manufacturing operations are to be 
carried on without serious interruptions. 

It would be possible, of course, to undertake this 
development in part at this time, providing at once 
a new plant for a production of 250 to 300-dozen hats 
per day, and complete the development at some later 
date. This could be done by building a five-story 
“main” or finishing plant along the entire Second 
Street frontage, with the office occupying space 
therein, and by building the Mixing and Blowing 
Plant and the Machine and Block-making Shops and 
the one-story Wet Plant. This would leave the pres¬ 
ent Finishing Building along Grant Street for dye 
house, dry rooms, etc., and for crating and storage. 
Such a scheme would provide a Wet or Body-making 
Plant with space for equipment up to 400-dozen 
bodies per day, and perhaps finishing facilities for a 
total of 300-dozen hats. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


185 


This scheme could be carried out with an im¬ 
mediate investment of, say, $350,000, including the 
cost of the Company’s present property ($10,000) and 
that to be acquired (estimated at $40,000). This sum 
does not, however, include the cost of any additional 
manufacturing machines, but it does include the nec¬ 
essary auxiliaries, etc., to the present manufacturing 
equipment. It includes the necessary extensions to 
the boiler plant, but eliminates all auxiliaries, etc., 
without which you cannot take advantage of possible 
economies. 

Such a partial development as that just indicated, 
could, we believe, if undertaken at once and prose¬ 
cuted with diligence, be completed within ten months. 

III. Site, Arrangement, Type and Advantages of 
Recommended New Plant.—Should the Company de¬ 
clare against the development of its present property 
and determine upon the purchase of a new site and 
the construction of an entirely new plant for the 
production of 500-dozen hats per day, we believe the 
most adaptable site therefor, of the three available 
sites upon which we were asked to pass an opinion, 
is that property south of Jefferson Avenue and along 
the West End Railroad Station. Its location is not 
altogether ideal, perhaps, in that it is rather removed 
from the center of the City’s activities, and borders at 
present upon a somewhat unattractive residential out¬ 
post. It has at present only fair road or trolley con¬ 
nections with the City center, and lacks water and 
sewer connections; but these conditions, we believe, 
would be susceptible of betterment without direct ex¬ 
pense to the Company. 


186 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


This property,—that is a site of say ten acres, or 
at least 750 by 500 feet, sufficient in extent to provide 
an excellent setting for an ideal plant of the 500- 
dozen capacity desired and affording opportunity for 
its development to a 100 per cent increase in such 
capacity,—we have no doubt, could be purchased for 
a very small sum, probably for less than $5,000. This 
land is rather rugged, and it would cost perhaps $10,- 
000 to prepare it properly for the plant buildings and 
to grade and finish the entire site to the attractive 
setting desired. Neither of the other available sites 
—the one just north of the Arlington Station and 
east of the railroad, or the one along the AVatertown 
Branch of the railroad in the east end—are of 
proper shape or size for best arrangement of plant 
for your immediate requirements. Either of them 
would prove totally inadequate for any satisfactory 
extension of the plant in case of future growth. 

The layout and general arrangement of a plant 
best adapted to your manufacturing operations (see 
Plan 6, Figure 40, page 215) is unquestionably a one- 
story building with ‘‘saw-tooth 9 ’ roof for the “wet” 
or Body-making Plant, with a basement under the 
Fur-mixing Room for fur storage and a “gallery” or 
second floor over the Blocking and Dye-house Depart¬ 
ments in which are located the Drying Room and 
Stock Room. Such an arrangement provides the 
most direct routing of bodies in process and the ut¬ 
most economy in the handling and transfer of the 
product throughout the plant. 

The “main” or Finishing Plant should be a four- 
story L-shaped building, with one leg adjoining and 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


187 


the other adjacent to the Body Plant. This scheme 
provides for the straight-line delivery of all ma¬ 
terials to the Finishing Plant, and the most direct 
routing and easy handling of all products in process 
from the beginning of operations to the shipping 
platform. 

The office, power house, and machine and block¬ 
making buildings should be separate structures, but 
adjacent to the Main Plant, the office building hav¬ 
ing a direct connection therewith. A plant so ar¬ 
ranged for the manufacture of 500-dozen hats per 
day could be increased from time to time or at any 
one time to an output of 1,000-dozen hats per day 
without in any way disturbing the existing buildings 
or the arrangement or equipment of any of its operat¬ 
ing departments. 

As to the type of plant, we believe this an instance 
in which reinforced concrete buildings—flat-slab 
floors and steel window sash—most admirably meet 
conditions, with the exception of the 44 wet” or Body¬ 
making Plant. This latter building might well follow 
the standard 44 saw-tooth” type of construction, using 
cast-iron columns, I-beam girders, timber trusses and 
plank roof. 

The cost of such a plant and its complete develop¬ 
ment, with 267,740 square feet of available space and 
ideal in construction, arrangement, equipment facili¬ 
ties, and appointments, would approximate something 
less than $750,000. This sum includes the cost of the 
proposed new site, and also all the additional ma¬ 
chinery, tools, and appliances required for the in¬ 
crease of your production to 500-dozen hats per day; 


188 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


in fact, all of the facilities and conveniences in 
every detail which are essential to the most conveni¬ 
ent and economical operation of the plant and offices. 
It also includes the cost of moving, and an allowance 
of $35,000 for the value possibly obtainable from the 
sale of your present plant after evacuation. 

Operating Economies of New Plant.—As to the 
operating results that may be obtained in such a 
plant as compared with those of your present plant, 
we believe these may be best noted by a direct illus¬ 
tration: Assume, for example, in your present plant 
for the past year, a production of, say, 75,000-dozen 
hats and a net profit of $2.00 per dozen, or a total 
net profit of $150,000. In the new plant this pro¬ 
duction alone of 75,000-dozen per year ought to be 
effected with a saving of at least $25,000, which is 
equivalent to a net profit increase of $0.33 1 /& per 
dozen, giving a total net profit for the year of $175,- 
000 for this output. 

On the second 75,000-dozen, assuming a total pro¬ 
duction of 500-dozen per day, the saving as compared 
with your present costs and production, would prob¬ 
ably reach, if not exceed, $75,000. This is equivalent 
to a net profit increase of $1.00 per dozen, giving a 
total net profit for the year of $225,000 for this sec¬ 
ond 250-dozen per day output. 

Assuming the reasonableness of these savings, and 
we believe them conservative, the net profit from the 
operations of the proposed new plant, with an out¬ 
put of 500-dozen hats per day or 150,000 dozen per 
year, would be $175,000 on the first 250 dozen and 
$225,000 on the second 250 dozen, or a total net 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


189 


profit of $400,000, as compared with the $150,000 net 
profit of the present plant with an output of 250 
dozen. 

Unit System of Developing New Plant.—We would 
particularly note that the new plant as recommended 
lends itself most readily to the 4 ‘unit” system of de¬ 
velopment, and we believe the Company could com¬ 
plete the first “unit” for the production of, say, 300- 
dozen hats per day for approximately $375,000 net— 
allowing a credit of, say, $35,000 against the gross 
cost from the sale of its present plant. 

Such a unit (see Plan 13, Figure 54, page 248) would 
include the Body-making Plant complete, as called for 
by the ultimate development, without, however, includ¬ 
ing the installation of manufacturing machines for a 
production in excess of the present plant’s output. 
It would also include the four-story “main” or Fin¬ 
ishing Plant, 293 feet in length, which adjoins the 
Body Plant; also a temporary one-story crating and 
storage building, 50 by 320 feet (in place of the final 
wing or “leg” of the Main Plant) and the power- 
plant building. 

The sum of $375,000 noted includes also all the nec¬ 
essary plant building and auxiliary manufacturing 
equipments required for the production of 300-dozen 
hats per day; also all the facilities and conveniences, 
and of the same kind and extent for this unit as is 
contemplated in the full development discussed, with 
the exception of the temporary omission of the auto¬ 
matic coal-handling plant and overhead storage bin 
at the Power Plant. In addition to the foregoing the 
amount includes $15,000 to cover the cost and de- 


190 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

velopinent of the new site, and $10,000 for the cost 
of moving. 

We are convinced that this unit of the new plant 
suggested would result in reducing manufacturing 
cost by $25,000 on an output of 250-dozen hats per 
day, and would return a net profit of $40,000 on the 
other 50-dozen per day of its capacity. Assuming, 
however, a net profit of only $35,000 per year on the 
excess daily capacity of 50-dozen above the present 
plant, the yearly savings would total $55,000; this 
represents a ten per cent return on $550,000, or ap¬ 
proximately 15 per cent on the estimated cost of 
$375,000 of the first unit of the suggested new plant. 

Reconstruction vs. New Plant—Conclusion.—We 
are convinced that any extended development of the 
present plant on the site it now occupies would be 
a mistake. We would strongly recommend that any 
development when undertaken should be along the 
lines of the new plant recommended and on a new 
site. We would further suggest the wisdom of pro¬ 
ceeding with any such development by “units,” and 
first the completion of a 300-dozen per day plant as 
above noted. Finally, the officials of the Company 
must themselves decide the opportune time to pro¬ 
ceed with any such important development as this, 
which cannot, we believe, be undertaken and carried 
through to any satisfactory conclusion without an 
immediate expenditure of at least $350,000 and an 
ultimate cost of $750,000. 

Pending any final action in this matter, and in 
fact until the completion of a new plant, we would 
suggest that none other than the most necessary 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 191 


improvements and additions be made to the present 
plant, bearing in mind, of course, that a new plant 
would require practically one year for completion 
from the date it may be undertaken. 

We submit the foregoing conclusions and recom¬ 
mendations in brief; but we append in the attached 
report the further discussions of the foregoing state¬ 
ments which were requested, and these, augmented 
by the accompanying schedules and drawings, quite 
fully cover, we believe, the questions at issue. 

I. Detailed Report on the Present Plant.—We pre¬ 
sent herewith complete general plans of the present 
property, Figure 35, and detailed floor plans of all 
the factory departments. These, together with the 
following facts and statements, comprise the infor¬ 
mation essential to a full knowledge of the plant as 
it now exists. 

Production and Output.—The product of the plant 
is felt and straw hats, the output averaging approxi¬ 
mately 250-dozen hats per day, or say, 75,000 dozen 
per year, as follows: 

Soft Hats—150 Dozen per Day 
Stiff Hats—50 Dozen per Day 
Straw Hats—50 Dozen per Day 

In this connection it may be noted the study of 
the present plant and its requirements and possibili¬ 
ties were based upon this output with a 100 per cent 
near future increase, and with the further idea that 
provision should be made for further future plant 
extension, if desired, up to an output of 1,000 dozen 
per day. 


192 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



Extent of Plant.—Tlie location and extent of the 
property and plant may be noted by reference to the 
General Plan No. 1, Figure 35, shown in the above 
plan. As indicated thereon the Company owns only 
a portion—that is 50,600 square feet—of the 84,370 
square feet of the Lincoln, Grant, First, and Second 
Street block upon which its so-called “main” plant 
is located. That portion of the plant on the east 
side of I - irst Street is on leased property, and only 
the plant machinery belongs to the Company. 

Condition of Buildings.—All the buildings with the 
exception of Power House and the Finishing Building 
along Grant, First and Second Streets, are frame 
structures; the exceptions noted are brick. The en- 




































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


193 


tire plant is antiquated, poorly arranged, and not 
well adapted to the Company’s business. The loca¬ 
tion of a part of the plant, entailing as it does a 
‘ 4 split-up” in department operations, seriously inter¬ 
feres with economic and satisfactory working. 

In brief the entire plant has passed its economic 
life, and any satisfactory development in this loca¬ 
tion would necessitate the purchase of all the prop¬ 
erty within the block bounded by Lincoln, Grant, 
First, and Second Streets, and the building of a 
modern plant thereon. 

Probable Cost of Additional Property.—The pur¬ 
chase cost of the property to be acquired in this block 
would probably greatly exceed its real worth. From 
all accounts the owners demand a total of approxi¬ 
mately $40,000, thus,— 

The property along Second Street, having a frontage of 
295 ft., and a depth of from 50 ft. to 60 ft., is assessed at 
$13,650, but probably could not be acquired for less than 
$15,000. 

The Jackson property, on the corner of Lincoln and First 
Streets, is assessed at $11,318, but it is a question if this 
could be purchased for less than $25,000. Area, 18,820 sq. ft. 

Details on Arrangement.—The arrangement and 
manufacturing equipments of the plant and its sev¬ 
eral departments show an unfortunate breaking up 
and wide separation of individual departments, and 
an unsatisfactory relative location of departments 
one with the* other. Working conditions are ex¬ 
tremely crowded, and there is a lack of many of the 
facilities without which economy is impossible. 


194 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 36 . (PLAN 2 ) DIAGRAMS OF OPERATIONS AS CARRIED 


ON IN EXISTING PLANT 

Reference to Plan 2, Figure 36, shows the sequence 
of the plant’s operations. This operation sequence 
proves very clearly the foregoing statements concern¬ 
ing “unfortunate” plant* arrangements. 

Floor Areas by Departments.—The total floor area 
of the present plant buildings is 89,400 square feet, 
excluding outside storage. The space occupied by 
the several departments is approximately as follows: 










































































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


195 


1. Receiving and Storage of Raw Materials: 


Drugs. 


sq. ft. 

Fur Storage.. 

.1000 

< < < < 

Box. 


a i ( 

Miscellaneous .. 

. 800 

Cl t ( 


Body Making: 


(a) Blowing and Mixing. 

(b) Forming. 

(c) Plank Shop as follows: 


East Plant.. 

..3750 

West “ . 

. .4680 

Stiff Hat Blocking. 

..2030 

“ “ Stiffening. 

. . 600 

“ “ Blocked Storage 

.. 200 

Recovery . 

.. 800 

Inspection. 

.. 600 

Soft Hat Stiffening. 

. . 850 

Dry Rooms. 

..1700 

(d) Soft Hat Pouncing. 

(e) Stiff Hat Shaving. 


Made Stock Storage: 


Pounced Soft Stock. 

Brushed Stiff Stock. 



6400 sq. ft. 

5200 “ “ 
4500 “ “ 


15210 

11 

l ( 

920 

< < 

< l 

240 

< < 

11 

2000 

c c 

11 

3300 

C ( 

l < 


4. Soft Hat Finishing: 

Finishing Room .6500 

Flanging Room. 3600 

Inspection .;. 900 

- 11000 “ " 

5. Stiff Hat Finishing. 8400 “ “ 

6. Straw Hat Making, including Trimming: 

Straw Braid Storage. 630 

“ Sewing and Stiffening.1500 





























m 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Straw Finishing.4600 

44 Trimming .1300 

- 8030 sq. ft. 

7. Trimming: 

Stiff Hat Binding and Trim.2080 

Soft Hat Trimming.5800 

Printing. 400 

- 8280 14 44 

8. Boxing, Packing, Shipping and Storage: 

Samples .1120 

Soft Hat Body Stock. 900 

Hat Packing. 630 

Hat Box Stock.2200 

Box Making.1000 

Shipping Room.1800 

- 76 5 0 44 44 

9. Power Plant . 38 0 0 4 4 44 

10. Offices and Passages to Factory. 1750 44 44 

11. Block Shop . 920 41 44 

12. Time Office, Store, Toilets, Stairs, Eleva¬ 

tors, etc. 1800 44 44 


Total — Present Plant . 89400 sq. ft. 

Outside Storage Approximately . 8500 44 44 


Total . 97900 sq. ft. 


Attention is called to the fact that the Company 
is required to rent outside storage space of 7,500 to 
10,000 square feet for the storage of crated stock 
awaiting shipment. 

It is further noted that all the departments of the 
plant, manufacturing, stock rooms, and offices, are 
very much overcrowded, and that really at least 

























RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


197 


125,000 square feet of floor space ought to be available 
for the present output in order to provide even fairly 
comfortable working conditions. 

Extent of Machinery and Equipment.—The list of 
manufacturing machinery and equipments of the 
present plant is not essential in the present discus¬ 
sion, although given in full in the original report; but 
it may be mentioned that the Company proposes to 
improve its equipment by the immediate purchase 
of additional machinery. This, however, while re¬ 
ducing manufacturing costs, will probably not add 
much in the way of increased output. 

The present accommodations in the way of lava¬ 
tories, locker rooms, lockers, drinking fountains and 
the general shop equipments it may be stated, are 
meagre and generally unsatisfactory. Further, the 
shop equipments, particularly in the matter of the 
handling and transfer of the product in process, are 
extremely limited, with the result that the expense 
of such handling and transfer represents a very large 
manufacturing loss. 

Power Plant Equipment.—The present Power Plant 
building is a substantial brick structure in good con¬ 
dition, with sufficient space to allow for increasing 
the plant capacity without any great expense in con¬ 
nection with the building. 

The Equipment comprises: 

1—325 hp. Slow-specd Corliss Engine, 

1— 25 kw. steam-driven Lighting Set, 

2— 200 hp. Cahall Vertical Boilers, 

1—175 hp. Cahall Vertical Boilers, 

1—125 hp. Cahall Vertical Boilers, 


198 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


1—1000 hp. brick stack, 

1—750 hp. Cochran feed water heater, 

1—Knowles pump, 7^" x 5" x 6", 

1— “ 44 , 8" x 51/5" x 10", . 1 

1— 44 44 , 8" X 5%" X 10" 

1—Air Compressor 9y 2 " x 9*4" x 10" (Loco. Type)^ 

1—Switchboard with necessary instruments. 

There are also 28 motors in use in the plant, totalling 
307 horsepower. 

Other electrical requirements of the plant approxi¬ 
mate 15 kilowatts. 

It is noted that the two 200-horsepower boilers 
have been in service about 12 years, and the others 
nearly 30 years; the power units are approximately 
12 years old, also the feed-water heater. 

It should be emphasized that the Power Plant is 
not equipped for economical service and it is. unable 
to meet the demands of the manufacturing plant. In 
fact the lack of certain equipment in this plant and 
the manufacturing plant, and the use of high-pressure 
steam for boiling, drying, heating of the buildings 
and so on, results in a heavy unnecessary expense. 
In this connection it may be suggested that the pres¬ 
ent boiler and power units would be ample for the 
plant and could be operated on probably a 40 per cent 
reduction in the amount of coal used, if the boilers 
were equipped with stokers, a fuel economizer, and a 
special hot-water system installed, and the manufac¬ 
turing plant equipped with means for using exhaust 
steam from the engine for boiling, drying and plant 
heating. 

Pending the building . and completion of a new 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 199 


plant, we would suggest (because of the condition of 
the oldest boilers) the installation of a 400-horse¬ 
power Babcock & Wilcox water-tube high-pressure 
boiler equipped with a Taylor stoker. Such a unit 
would be ample for the requirements of the entire 
plant, as it may easily be run steadily at as much as 
150 per cent of rating and in excess of this up to 
200 per cent, if required, at times. Furthermore a 
unit of this type and size would be best adapted to 
the requirements of a new plant. With such a unit, 
the engine could be run under high-pressure steam 
and would very likely afford all the power required 
for your present plant and present operations. 

We would not recommend the use of oil fuel for 
this unit at this time, as you have contemplated, 
owing to the present high market prices for fuel 
oils and the further fact that such use would call for 
large storage tanks, and so on, costing approximately 
as much as the stoker. 

II. Details on Possibilities of Present Property.— 

Reference to Plan 1, Figure 35, preceding, shows 
that the present plant on the leased property, east 
side of First Street, with its 34,000 square feet odd 
of floor space, requires as much area as the total 
available space in that property of the main block 
not yet owned or occupied by the Company. We 
have given much study to the possibilities of devel¬ 
oping the present property. The best obtainable 
results may be observed with reference to the Prop¬ 
erty Plan No. 1, Figure 35 and to the “Study of a 
Proposed Plant on the Present Site,” Plan No. 3, 
Figure 37. Furthermore, if the Power Plant is to 


200 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 37. (PLAN 3) STUDY OF A PROPOSED PLANT ON THE 
PRESENT SITE, INCLUDING ENTIRE BLOCK 


remain as a part of any development of this prop¬ 
erty, its location is fixed as it now exists. 

Again, it is readily appreciable that in any devel¬ 
opment affording a production output of 500-dozen 
hats per day (twice the present output), the ground 
area required for only that part of the plant east of 
First Street—a large part of which should be housed 
in a one-storv building—is equal to approximately 
four-fifths of the entire area of the block bounded 
by Lincoln, Grant, First, and Second Streets. It is 
therefore quite evident, as a starting point, that 







































































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 201 


whether it is at all practicable or not, the depart¬ 
ments must for the most part be housed in multi¬ 
storied buildings. 

This, then, establishes at once the fact that while 
it is desirable to have a one-story Plank Shop, insofar 
as possible, there is the absolute necessity of a two- 
story-and-basement Fur-Storage, Mixing, and Blow¬ 
ing Plant; a two-story Machine and Block-making 
Shop, and a multiple-story Finishing Plant. 

Assuming the availability of the entire block of 
property now occupied in part by the Company and 
the necessity of a plant affording an immediate con¬ 
siderable increase in production with a very near 
future capacity of double the present output, we find 
it possible to develop such a 500-dozen plant to a 
fairly satisfactory degree. It is important to appre¬ 
ciate, however, these unfortunate limitations: 

(a) Such a development would afford no opportunity for 
a future Fur-Preparing or Parroting Plant; 

(b) No available space is provided for coal storage, which 
must therefore be located at or near the docks; 

(c) Any future extension of the Body-Making Plant would 
be impossible; 

(d) The Finishing Departments could not be increased 
without the addition of other stories to the Finishing Build¬ 
ings, with the necessity of splitting the departments; 

(e) A reasonable and practical development of the prop¬ 
erty for a 500-dozen plant would not provide all the working 
space desired for some of the departments nor for storage; 

(f) The seemingly best and most practical development 
affords only 187,450 square feet of floor space for 500-dozen 
hats. The present plant, with 250-dozen output, now uses, 


202 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 





m r. 'i m n 


n n n 


■“gB-ffl 


V—» t—ic=- ui- 



OFi 





□□□ 

nun. 


" S' I I 7 


a.JLi it 



JIG. 38. (PLAN 4) ELEVATION OF POSSIBLE PLANT ON EXISTING 
PROPERTY BY PURCHASING ENTIRE BLOCK 


with outside storage, 97,000 square feet and should have at 
least 125,000 square feet available; 

(g) The present property lacks and cannot acquire direct 
shipping facilities, either by rail or water; 

(h) The maximum possible development of the property 
is 500-dozen capacity. Any increase could only be obtained 
practically by the extension of the plant to other property 
entirely apart from and removed from the present; 































































































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


203 



FIG. 39. (PLAN 5) PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT SUPERIMPOSED 


. ON EXISTING PLANT • 

(i) The cost of acquiring the property required for such 
a development would apparently be unduly high. 

Possible Alterations.—Referring to Plans, 3, 4, and 
5, Figures 37, 38, and 39, the plant so indicated calls 
for a two-story-and-basement fur-storage, mixing, and 
body-forming building 70 by 120 feet of reinforced 
concrete on the corner of Lincoln and First Streets. 
Adjoining this plant is a one-story saw-tooth roof 
Body-Making Plant, 110 by 252 feet, of the standard 
saw-tooth construction with cast-iron columns, I-beam 
girders, plank roof, metal sash, and concrete floors. 














































































































204 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Along Second Street is a five-story reinforced-con- 
crete building 52 by 166 feet for the trimming, stor¬ 
age, boxing, crating, and shipping departments, with 
a three-story concrete and brick office building, 52 by 
02 feet, adjoining it on Second and Lincoln Streets. 

The Finishing Building, a five-story reinforced-con- 
crete structure, 52 by 268 feet, extends along the 
entire front of Grant Street from Second to First 
Streets. The first floor is given over to the Blocking 
and Stretching Departments and to the Dye House, 
including office, laboratory, dye-stuffs storage, etc.; 
while on the second floor are located the drying rooms 
and stock rooms, as indicated. 

The present Power House remains in the same 
location it now occupies, but is extended on the south 
end to the Body-making Plant. Between the Power 
House and the Fur-mixing Plant is a two-story (in 
part) reinforced-concrete building, 40 by 120 feet, for 
the Machine Shop and the Block-making and Car¬ 
penter Shops. Adjoining these are lavatory and 
toilet buildings to serve the employees of these de¬ 
partments. Other lavatories are located within the 
several buildings, as follows: at the corner of Grant 
and First Streets, at the inside corner of the two 
five-story buildings, and again at the north end of the 
five-story Second Street building. 

Floor Space Provided.—The floor areas provided 
for the several plant departments in this scheme are: 


Fur Storage—Basement. 8100 sq. ft. 

, Fur Mixing Department. 8100 “ <l 

Forming Mill. 8100 “ “ 





RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


205 


Other Space—Stairs, etc 


Plank Shop: 

Sizing and Starting.21000 

Toilets and Aisles. 9360 

Soft Stiffening. 800 

Stiff “ . 800 

Stiff Shaving. 800 


Stretching and Blocking. 

Dye House—including Office and Stock.... 


Three Drying Rooms. 

Body Stock Rooms. 

Soft Pouncing. 

Pounced Soft Hat Stock. 

Brushed Stiff Hat Stock. 

Soft Hat Finishing.16000 

Trimming . 5000 


Stiff Hat Finishing.16000 

Trimming . 5000 


Straw Hat Making. 

Trim Make-up Department. 5500 

Printing . 1500 


Paper Box Department. 

Packing, Shipping and Storage 

Machine Shop. 

Block-making Shop. 

Bar Stock and Lumber. 

Power House. 

Offices . 


1050 sq. ft. 


32760 “ “ 
4400 sq. ft. 
5040 “ “ 
3900 “ “ 
2600 “ “ 
1120 “ “ 
1920 “ “ 
2160 “ “ 


21000 “ “ 


21000 “ “ 
16000 “ " 


7000 “ 
8500 “ 
16000 “ 
2200 “ 
2200 “ 
1500 “ 
3800 “ 
9000 “ 


Total Square Feet 


187450 




































206 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Routing and Handling of Product.—While the plan 
of this possible development indicates the general 
travel throughout the plant, briefly it is as follows: 

1. Incoming Materials. —Fur would be delivered to the 
receiving platform on First Street and by conveyor-elevator 
to the storage basement; dye stuffs would be received at the 
platform on Grand street and delivered immediately to the 
adjoining storage; straw, box, crating and other manufactur¬ 
ing materials and supplies would be received on Second 
Street and delivered by elevator or otherwise to their several 
department Stock Rooms; general mill, machine shop, and 
block stock would be delivered from Lincoln Street to the 

Stock Shed adjoining the Machine Shop. 

• • 

2. Fur-mixing and Body-forming .—Fur from basement 

storage would be delivered by conveyor-elevator to the Mix¬ 
ing Room on the second floor of the Fur Building, and thence 
by the same means to the Forming Mill. 

3. Body-making. — (a) Bodies from the Forming Mill 
would be delivered in trays by hand to the starting depart¬ 
ment, and thence between successive operations by hand to 
the “Hydro” after first sizing. From this point bodies would 
be delivered by elevator-conveyor to the Dry Room. After 
drying, which should be done in a warm air-blast dry room 
operated on the continuous chain-conveyor system—the 
bodies are delivered by hand to the adjacent Stock Room, 
It is noted that bodies for natural edging would be whizzed 
(rotated at extreme high speed) directly after starting, and 
follow the above routing, except that they would be returned 
directly from the Dry Room by chute to the multi-rollers. 

(b) From the first Sized-Stock Room, bodies would be 
delivered by chute and conveyor to second sizing; the “soft” 
by way of the stiffening Department from which they would 
be delivered by hand. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


207 


(c) After second sizing, the soft undyed bodies would go 
by hand to the Dye House, and thence again by hand to block¬ 
ing and stretching. Soft bodies, dyed in the multi-rollers, 
would go direct from second sizing by hand to the same 
Department; thence all soft bodies would be whizzed and go 
by elevator-conveyor to the Dry Room and from there directly 
by truck to the Pouncing Department, thence into Pounced 
Stock. 

Stiff bodies from second sizing would be whizzed, go by 
elevator-conveyor to Dry Room and thence to second Sized- 
Stock Room. From this Stiff-Stock Room bodies would go 
by chute and conveyor to the shaving and pouncing depart¬ 
ments, thence directly through the stiffening, steaming, and 
recovery processes and by truck to clearing. From clearing 
the stiff bodies would be passed directly to stretching, thence 
by truck to dyeing, returning by truck to blocking and Hydro. 
After whizzing, the bodies would go by elevator-conveyor to 
the Dry-Room, thence directly to brushing and stock. 

4. Finishing Departments .—From the Pounced and 
Blocked Stock Rooms, both soft and stiff bodies are delivered 
by dumb-waiter elevators to their respective Departments. 
All bodies then pass by the usual method through the various 
finishing processes to Finished Hat Stock; thence to the Trim¬ 
ming Departments, and thence to the boxing, crating, storage, 
and shipping departments. 

5. Straw Hats .—Materials for straw hats are received, as 
stated, by elevator. They pass through their various processes 
by the usual methods, excepting for the provision of normal 
air blast and continuous conveyor Drying Rooms. From the 
straw-hat Trimming Department, the hats pass to their own 
special packing and boxing department and then to crating, 
storage and shipping. 

6. Trimming Departments .—Materials for trimming are 
sent as received to stock in the Trim-making Department. 


208 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


From Stock, the trimming is cut and made up and sent in due 
course to the several departmental trimming rooms. 

7. Boxing and Crating .—Materials and supplies for boxes 
and crates are delivered by elevator from the Receiving De¬ 
partment on Second Street to the Stock of these departments. 
All of the work of these departments is handled in the 
customary manner; and after hats are crated they are stocked 
in the Storage Room to await delivery to shipment on order. 


Additional Manufacturing Machinery.—In addition 

to building equipments and auxiliary manufacturing 
equipments, and so on, such as noted later in the 
tabulated estimate of cost, the Company would re¬ 
quire considerable extra manufacturing machinery, 
somewhat as follows: 


2 Fur mixers 

3 Forming mills 

7 Multi-rollers 

1 Set of three stretchers 
3 Hydros 

3 Sets crown-ironers 

8 Sets crown-pouncers 


5 Fur-blowers 
3 Starting machines 
34 Sizing machines 
9 Dye and washing machines 

2 Pouncing machines 

3 Sets brim-presses 

2 Sets brim-pouncers 


Steam tables and miscellaneous equipments. 


Power and Steam Requirements.—The extended 

plant, having a capacity of twice the present output, 
would demand a considerable increase in the Power 
Plant; and if the steam and power requirements are 
to be met with a satisfactory degree of economy, it 
would be necessary to install the following equip¬ 
ment: 

Two 250, or one 400-hp. water-tube boiler with stokers 
or stoker; 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


209 


One 250-kw. alternating-current direct-connected power unit; 
Greene fuel economizer, and hot-water steel storage tank with 
auxiliary instantaneous heaters in the Manufacturing 
Plant; 

Feed-water-heater meter and other controlling and recording 
mechanisms; 

Switchboard extensions, power wiring and mains to the New 
Plant, steam and hot-water piping and mains, etc. 

Provision is planned for the utilization of all ex¬ 
haust steam from the engines for boiling, drying, 
heating, etc., in the manufacturing plant; hot water 
being obtained largely from the feed-water heater and 
the fuel economizer, augmented as required by ex¬ 
haust or live steam in the instantaneous hot-water 
heaters. 

Owing to the lack of ground, no coal storage space 
is possible, so it is deemed advisable to assume that 
storage will be maintained, say, in bins at the docks, 
and that the coal as carted in will be dumped upon 
the boiler-house floor. It is also deemed advisable to 
omit any automatic ash-handling system, because of 
the lack of space and the cost of its installation in 
the present boiler house and the fact that the present 
boilers, two of which remain, could not be advan¬ 
tageously equipped. 

Upon the basis of such power-plant equipment and 
plant extensions we compute the steam and power 
requirements as noted thus: 

Total connected motor load. 685 horsepower 

Assuming a 65% load factor, this equals.. 450 
Assuming, say, 10 lb. back-pressure on 

power unit this equals approximately. 450 boiler hp. 



210 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


i 

Add equivalent of maximum lighting load, 

sav... 100 Boiler hp. 

Add for power-plant auxiliaries. 75 

Steam for Drying Rooms.. 150 

“ lt Heating Plant. 250 “ “ 

tl il Manufacturing Use. 100 ** “ 

“ tl Instantaneous hot-water heaters.. 75 

. . ____ .. » 

Gross Steam Demand .1200 Boiler hp. 

Deduct the value of exhaust steam obtained 
from Power Units for use in drying, manu¬ 
facturing, etc. 450 “ “ 

Maximum Winter Steam Load. 750 Boiler hp. 

Estimated Maximum Summer Load. ... 500 Boiler hp. 


Cost of Possible Development.—In our opinion the 

cost of such a development of the present property 
for the production of 500-dozen hats per day would 
be approximately $600,000, including $10,000 as repre¬ 
senting the cost of the site now occupied by the 
present plant and $40,000 for the probable cost of 
the balance of the property in the block that would 
have to be acquired. 

This estimated cost of $600,000 includes all the ad¬ 
ditional machinery, tools, equipment, and shop fix¬ 
tures, appliances, and conveniences required for a 
complete plant for the production of 500-dozen hats 
per day, and is made up briefly as follows: 


Present investment in Land.$ 10,000.00 

Additional Land required. 40,000.00 

Razing present plant buildings (cost less salvage) 1,000.00 














RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 211 
Plant buildings, erected in sections as required.. .$310,000.00 


Heating, lighting, plumbing, drainage, and fire 
protection including steel tower tank and 

sprinklers . 38,500.00 

Plant elevators and conveyors. 8,500.00 

Steam and water piping throughout the Plant... .$ 12,500.00 
Motors and electrical and mechanical transmission 20,000.00 

Drying rooms and hot-blast systems. 12,500.00 

Exhaust and humidifier systems. 22,500.00 

Additional manufacturing machinery required... 52,500.00 

Shop furniture and fixtures.. 12,500.00 

Office furniture and fixtures. 5,000.00 

Additional power-plant equipment. 55,000.00 


Total Estimated Cost .$600,500.00 


Method of Development. —The development of the 
present property as discussed, that is the erection of 
a new plant upon the block now occupied by the 
Company, presents some unusual difficulties in the 
matter of procedure without interfering with pro¬ 
duction. Reference to Plan No. 5, Figure 39, shows 
in heavy outline the relative position and space oc¬ 
cupied by both the present and proposed plants. There 
appears to be but one logical plan to follow, that is: 

I. (a) Remove all houses and other buildings from the 
property along the entire frontage of Second Street; 

(b) Build the five-story Finishing Building along Second 

Street; 

(c) Build the three-story Office Building at the corner of 
Second and Lincoln Streets; 

(d) Remove houses and other buildings from the property 
on Lincoln and First Streets; 











212 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


(e) Construct the two-story-and-basement Fur-Storage, 
Mixing and Forming Mill; 

(f) Construct the two-story (in part) machine and Block¬ 
making Building; 

II. (a) Remove all finishing from the present building along 
Grant Street to the new Finishing Building on Second 
Street; 

(b) Raze old building on Grant Street; 

(c) Construct the five-story Finishing Building along Grant 
Street. 

III. (a) Remove present Plank Shop and Dye House to the 
first floors of the new Second and Grant Street building; 
with Blocking and Stretching, Dye House, etc., located 
permanently on the first floor, and Dry Rooms and Stock 
Rooms on the second floor of the Grant Street building; 

(b) Raze the present Plank Shop and other buildings on the 
space to be occupied by the Plank Shop; 

(c) Erect the new Plank Shop complete; 

(d) Extend the Power-Plant Building. 

IV. Readjust all departments to their location as noted. 

It is quite evident that the proposed development 
would have to be completed practically in its en¬ 
tirety before any great advantage would accrue in the 
way of increased manufacturing facilities, particularly 
as the Body-making Plant is the one most desired and 
this, owing to the limitations of the site, the location 
of the present manufacturing plant, and the Power 
House, must be the last unit of the development. 

Practicability of a Partial Development. —It would, 
however, be possible to effect a partial development 
at this time which would provide facilities for the 
output of from 250 to 300-dozen hats per day and 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 213 

allow for the final completion of the proposed plant 
at some later date. This might be done by building 
a five-story Finishing Plant along the entire Second 
Street frontage, and moving the present Plank Shop 
in part to this building and in part to the present 
Finishing Building along Grant Street, while building 
the new Plank Shop. This, with the construction of 
the Fur-mixing Plant and the Machine and Block 
Shop, would complete all the proposed units except¬ 
ing the much needed Finishing Building on Grant 
Street. 

Such a scheme would provide a Body-making Plant 
with space sufficient for the production of 400 bodies 
per day and for finishing fully 250-dozen and per¬ 
haps up to 300-dozen hats per day. It would mean, 
however, a heavy expense for the temporary installa¬ 
tion of the Blocking Department, Dye House and 
Drying Rooms in the present building along Grant 
Street pending the later development of this unit of 
the final plant. The later removal of these depart¬ 
ments and their further temporary installation else¬ 
where during the construction of this unit of the 
plant would, for a time, somewhat curtail the output 
of the Plank Shop. 

We believe such a partial development could be 
carried out in a fairly satisfactory way for a cost of 
approximately $350,000, exclusive, however, of the 
cost of any additional manufacturing machinery and 
omitting also all the proposed additions to the Power 
Plant, excepting one 400-horsepower, or two 250- 
horsepower boilers with stokers and the necessary 
changes in connection therewith. 


214 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

This estimated cost is, briefly summarized: 


Investment in present site.$ 10,000.00 

Cost of balance of block. 40,000.00 

Net cost of razing buildings. 1,000.00 

Proposed buildings. 205,000.00 

Heating, lighting, plumbing and fire protection 

systems . 27,500.00 

Elevators and conveyors. 8,500.00 

Steam and water piping. 10,000.00 

Motors and electrical and mechanical transmission 12,500.00 

Dry rooms and hot blast. 7,500.00 

Exhaust fan and ventilators. 3,500.00 

Shop furniture and fixtures. 3,500.00 

Office furniture and fixtures. 1,000.00 

Power plant additions. 20,000.00 


* I 

Total .$350,000.00 


III. Details of New Plant on New Site. —In the at¬ 
tached plans, Nos. 6 to 12, Figures 40 to 40, we present 
a detailed study of a suggested “ideal’’ plant for your 
business arranged and equipped for the economic pro¬ 
duction of 500-dozen hats per day. 

We have assumed the location or setting of this 
plant to be on a site adjacent to the railroad and 
affording direct rail shipment by means of spur sid¬ 
ing; preferably a site allowing for future expansion 
up to an output of 1000-dozen per day. 

Location and Extent of Site. —Referring to Plan 
No. 6, Figure 40, which shows the general layout and 
arrangement of the suggested plant, it is noted that 
the buildings as grouped occupy a ground space 400 
















RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


215 





FIG. 40. (PLAN 6) IDEAL PLANT ON IDEAL LOCATION 


feet square. If the plant were later to be extended 
to double its capacity as laid down, that is, to 1000- 
dozen per day, it would require approximately an 
additional like amount of ground. We believe, there¬ 
fore, any site selected for such a plant should be ap¬ 
proximately ten acres in extent and have a length of 
approximately 800 feet and a depth of 500 feet. 

Of the three available sites, we find that only that 
site south of the Jefferson Avenue Railroad Station 
and west of the tracks is adapted to the requirements 
of such a plant. While this site is not ideal in all 
respects, we believe the property required may be 
purchased for a very reasonable sum and that if the 







































































































216 


TilK FACTORY BUILDINGS 




. J bcb i w .1* 

FIG. 41. (PLAN 7) IDEAL PLAN OF BODY-MAKING DEPARTMENT 





























































































































































































































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 




FIG. 41. (continued) 










































































































































































































































































































218 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 42. (PLAN 8) SECOND FLOOR OF IDEAL PLANT 


Plant were set some distance west of the railroad, say 
500 feet or so, the cost of developing the site would 

not exceed $10,000. * ‘jSIB 

Properly treated in all the essentials of arrange¬ 
ment and design of buildings and grounds, we believe 
the plant on the site noted could be made most attrac¬ 
tive. 

General Arrangement of New Plant. —The general 

arrangement of the suggested plant follows very 
closely our original preliminary studies. Later modi¬ 
fications have been incorporated in the plans herein 
presented. 

Referring to the General Plan No. 6, Figure 40, and 











































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


219 





FIG. 43. (PLAN 9) THIRD FLOOR OF IDEAL PLANT 


to the elevations and sections, Figures 45 and 46, you 
will note that it provides for a one-story “saw-tooth” 
roof. Body-making Plant with a basement under the 
Fur-mixing Department for fur storage and for gal¬ 
lery or second-floor Drying and Stock Rooms. All 
materials for this Body-making Plant are received by 
rail or truck and go directly to their several stock 
rooms without passing through any but the Receiving 
Department. Also all work in process travels prac¬ 
tically in a straight line from Fur Storage to Pounced 
and Brushed Body-Storage and thence directly to the 
Finishing Plants. 

The Main or Finishing Plant is a four-story rein- 

















































































220 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIG. 44. (FLAN 10) FOURTH FLOOR OF IDEAL PLANT 

forced concrete L-shaped building with one leg par¬ 
allel to and adjoining the end of the Body-making 
Plant and the other leg parallel to the Body Plant 
but 40 feet distant from it. All materials for the 
Finishing Plant are received by rail or truck at the 
receiving platform and are forwarded, through a 
continuous passageway, directly to departments on 
the first floor, and by elevator to those on other floors. 
The travel of all the work in process throughout the 
Finishing Plant is in direct straight lines of flow, 
with elevator delivery from all Finished Stock Booms 
to the Boxing Department, and thence through crat¬ 
ing and storage to the Shipping Platform. 


















































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 221 

The Office Building, three stories in height, adjoins 
the Main Plant, with direct connection to the first 
three floors. The Machine and Block-making Shop, 
Garage, and Power Plant are adjacent and parallel 
to the Main Plant, the Power Plant adjoining the 
coal-storage pocket beside the spur siding. The 
Alcohol Stock House is located between the Body¬ 
making and Finishing Buildings and is also adjacent 
to the railroad siding. 

Tim general over-all dimensions of the Plant Build¬ 
ings are briefly noted: 


Body-making Plant.200 x 350 feet 

Main or Finishing Plant. 54 x 643 “ 

Office Building. 40 x 80 “ 

Machine and Block Shop. 54 x 54 “ 

Garage and Stock Shed. 42 x 54 “ 

Power Plant. 54 x 140 “ 

Coal Pocket. 54 x 56 “ 

Alcohol Storage. 22 x 22 “ 


It will be noted that the plant may be doubled in 
capacity by duplicating the Body-making and Finish¬ 
ing Plants without in any way disturbing the opera¬ 
tions of the plant shown, and at the same time con¬ 
serve all the operating benefits of the layout and 
arrangement of the plant as laid out. 

Type of Construction Recommended. —The fore¬ 
going statement concerning the general arrangement 
indicates the general type of building construction 
suggested; this is further indicated by reference to 
the plant elevations and sections, Figures 45 and 46. 

The following brief explanation may be pertinent: 










2*22 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIG. 46. SECTION THROUGH SUGGESTED IDEAL PLANT 













































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


223 


(a) Body-making Building —One-story with part basement 
under the fur-mixing end of the plant, and part two-story 
for Dry and Stock Rooms. Concrete foundations, brick or 
tile side walls, cast iron columns, steel girders with timber 
saw-tooth trusses, plank roof with Barrett 11 Specification 
covering. All side-wall window sash to be steel with clear 
glass. “Sawtooth” sash and sklylights, all metal frames with 
factory-ribbed wire glass. 

All floors and main pipe tunnel of concrete, with drain 
troughs covered with cast iron plates. 

Dry and Stock Room Gallery or second story to be steel 
framed. Walls of tile. Floor of cement. Plank roof with 
Barrett covering. All dry-room walls of tile, with tile or 
concrete roof. 

Ventilators throughout the Body-making Plant to be of 
the sleeve-damper type with glass tops. 

All stair wells and elevator shafts to be fireproof construc¬ 
tion with metal-clad doors. All other doors, excepting those 
to the Shipping Platform and to the Finishing Plant, to be 
wood. 

All partitions to be wood wainscoting to a height of 42 
inches, and frame and glass above. All to be of “standard” 
section and interchangeable. 

(b) Main or Finishing Building —Reinforced concrete 
throughout, flat-slab floor type. All finished floors to be 
maple on plank. All sash, steel frame with plain glass. Stair 
wells and elevator shafts enclosed. Stairs, concrete with 
“safety” treads. All doors, partitions and other details as 
indicated for Body Plant. 

(c) Office Building —Reinforced concrete with brick cur¬ 
tain walls. Window sash and frames of wood with clear glass. 
Stair wells, fireproofed. Stairs, concrete with “safety” 
treads. First and second floors trimmed with birch; the third 
floor cypress. Finished floors of maple on plank. 


224 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


( d ) Machine and Block Shop —Same construction as 
Finishing Building, except brick curtain walls. 

(e) Power House —Concrete foundations, steel frame with 
brick curtain walls, concrete floor and roof. In other respects 
similar to Finishing Building. 

(/) Coal Storage Pocket —Concrete walls. 

( g ) Alcohol Storage —Brick building on concrete founda 
tions. Concrete floor and roof. Steel sash with wire glass. 


AVAILABLE FIXX)R SPACE—DEPARTMENTAL AREAS 

(a) Fur Mixing and Blowing: 

Fur Storage, Basement... .14,560 sq. ft. 

Mixing Department. 9,450 44 44 

Forming Mill. 5,940 “ 44 

- 29,950 sq. ft. 


(h) Plank Shop: 

Starting Department. 7,720 sq. ft. 

First Sizing Department .. .13,750 44 44 
Second Sizing Department. 4,650 “ 44 

Toilets and Aisles.12.550 “ “ 

Soft Stiffening. 760 44 44 

Stiff Stiffening . 1,460 44 44 

Stiff Shaving. 760 44 44 

Stretching and Blocking... 3,400 44 44 

Dye House. 2,820 44 44 

Dye House, Office, Labora¬ 
tories and Stock. 2,280 “ 44 

Drying Rooms. 5,480 44 li 

Stock Rooms.4,570 4 4 “ 


60,230 sq. ft. 


(c) Soft Pouncing . 1,440 44 44 

(d) Pounced Hat Stock . 1,850 44 44 

(e) Brushed Hat Stock . 1,850 44 44 


Total—Body Plant 


95,320 sq. ft. 
























RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 

(/) Soft Hat Finishing .15,100 sq. ft. 

Finished Stock. 4,440 “ “ 

Soft Trimming. 7,800 lt “ 

- 27,340 

Toilets and Aisles. 5,600 

( 9 ) Stiff Hat Finishing .15,100 sq. ft. 

Finished Stock. 4,440 “ “ 

Stiff Hat Trimming... 5,700 11 11 

- 25,240 

Toilets and Aisles. 5,600 

(li) Straw Hat Making: 

Braid and Body Stock. 2,520 sq. ft. 

Making and Finishing. 15,100 “ “ 

Finished Stock. 500 “ “ 

Packing Room. 5,000 11 11 

- 23,120 

(i) Trim Make-up Dep’t _ 5,700 sq. ft. 

Printing . 2,100 “ “ 

- 7,800 

Toilets and Aisles. 5,600 

( j) Paper Box Department: 

Box Stock . 2,430 sq. ft. 

Box Making.2,180 “ “ 

Box Storage. 4,700 “ “ 

- 9,310 

( k ) Packing and Shipping: 

Hat Stock for Packing 1,680 sq. ft. 

Packing Room. 2,430 11 11 

Crating Room. 2,300 “ “ 

Shipping Room. 1,660 il il 

Crated Stock Storage. .20,520 “ 11 

- 28,590 

( l ) Hospital, Store Aisles, cOc. 6,040 

Total — Finishing Bldg .144,240 


225 


sq. ft. 


11 < < 


sq. ft. 


< < < < 


< ( u 


ll 11 
Cl It 


ll It 


It tl 
It li 

It It 

































226 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


(m) OR Storage . 400 sq. ft. 

(n) Mock mm Shop . 2,700 

(o) Block Shop . 2,700 “ " 

(p) Bar Stock and Lumber . 800 “ “ 

( q) Garage . 1,280 il ** 

(r) Power House . 7,400 “ 44 

( 5 ) Office and Connecting Passage . 9,900 “ “ 


TOTAL—FLOOR SPACE. 264,740 “ 44 


Routing of Work in Process.—A study of the de¬ 
tailed floor plan and the drawing of the Body-making 
Plant indicates quite clearly the travel of the “ goods 
in process’’ throughout the plant; but for convenience 
in reference we tabulate the various operations in the 
order of their sequence, for clarity of reference and 
the convenient arrangement of diagrams they are 
divided into six groups, as follows: 

Group I—Making Felt Bodies 
44 II—Finishing Soft Ilats 
44 III—Finishing Stiff Hats 
44 IV—Making Straw Hats 

44 V—Preparing Hat Trim 
44 VI—Trimming all Hats 
“ VII—Packing and Shipping 

# i 

Every operation carried out in the manufacture of 
•the hats is clearly indicated in these diagrams, Fig¬ 
ures 47 to 53 inclusive. 

For convenient reference we present here, in brief 
form a concise statement of how the various opera¬ 
tions involved are carried out, and also a brief de¬ 
scription of the means and methods we have sug¬ 
gested and provided for the handling and transfer 
















RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 227 

of all the materials and work in process from the 
receipt of raw materials to the shipment of the fin¬ 
ished product, as follows: 

1. Incoming Manufacturing Products: 

Received from railroad spur or truck and delivered on 
platform at Receiving Rooms. 

(a) Straw, trimmings, paper and boxing materials 

received in Main Plant Building, and sent im- 

* 

mediately by truck to their respective departments. 

(b) Fur, dye stuffs, and chemicals, and general supplies 
received in Body-making Plant. Fur stored in 
basement; supplies in stock room; dye stuffs in 
drug room; oils in oil house; shellac in stiff stiffen¬ 
ing room, etc. 

2. Bodies in Process: 

(a) Fur in cases delivered on Platform and sent direct 
by steel chute to reserve fur-storage in basement 
of Body Plant. 

(b) Current fur supply taken from “reserve” and 
stored in bin racks. Boxes from “reserve” opened, 
put on flat or “dodger” truck, taken to bin room, 
bags stocked in bins, and empty boxes taken to 
empty Box Storage. 

(c) Accumulated empty boxes delivered as desired to 
shipping platform by elevator. 

(d) Assorting fur: packages desired are taken from 
bins and delivered to assorting office counter as 
per Order Slip. Packages then opened and put 
into a fibre can, 2y 2 feet diameter by 3 feet high. 
(Cans with loose covers). 

(e) Fur from Stock to Mixing Room: 

Fibre cans rolled to conveyor elevator and twice 
a day twelve are sent to Mixing Floor. One-half 


228 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


r~ 

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w ' p"* 

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IpMMMi 

jfcL'£.'J 


i r 
jrt_ 


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CMm* J*»r 


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g«r.«»g 


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a *. otr~rl <»»/« 


♦»M< ■ i n— > 


FIG. 47. ROUTING DIAGRAM IN THE MANUFACTURE OF 

FELT HAT BODIES 


















































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


229 


day’s supply (12 Cans) accumulated at once in 
Mixing Room. Cans dumped into mixing trucks 
as needed. Empty cans returned twice a day by 
conveyor elevator. 

(f) Mixed fur to blowers; mixing trucks wheeled to 
blower supply-boxes and transferred. 

(g) Blown fur delivered to fibre boxes fitted with 4 ‘steel 
dome gliders ’ ’; these are pushed to Forming Room 
and formers returned when empty. 

(h) Formed Bodies: 

These are lifted from drain board by inspector to 
adpacent bench. Inspected and placed in pan 
trays (each say 12 x 18 x 21/2 inches, holding 
eight bodies) and shoved through window to Start¬ 
ing Department bench. 

At night, the last hour’s work or 40-dozen Bodies, 
60 pans, are slid into cold or refrigerator-box 
shelved compartments under bench. Box has doors 
each side, so that the pans may be taken out on 
Starting Department side in morning. 

(i) Bodies from starting-receiving bench are delivered 
by closure boys to tables beside each hand starter 
and starting machines. 

0 ) Bodies as finished by each starter are delivered, 
after final closing, by closure boys to the receiving 
tables at multi-roller machines; except bodies for 
natural edging. 

(k) Natural edge or other bodies to be dried after start¬ 
ing are delivered by closure boys to the Hydro 
operator; thence to the delivery table, where they 
are placed on continuous shelf elevator for de¬ 
livery to receiving tables on the Dry Room Gallery, 
for drying in Dry Room “A”. 

(l) At Dry Room “A”, the operator takes the bodies 


230 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 





from the table and hangs them on hat trees sus¬ 
pended every three feet from the dry-room con¬ 
veyor chain. Each tree holds one-dozen bodies, 
and as the conveyor chain travels at a speed of 
three feet per minute, one-dozen hats are hung on 
a tree each minute. 

(m) The conveyor is continuous in operation, and as 
bodies leave the Dry Room they are removed by 
an operator, and as they accumulate are carried 
to Stock Room No. 2. 

(n) Natural-edge sewing and marking is done by an 
operator in Stock Room No. 2. 

(o) Natural-edge bodies are then delivered from Stock 

by a hardwood chute to a horizontal continuous 
belt-conveyor delivering into another chute dis¬ 
charging on the receiving table in the Multi-Roller 
Dept. j 

(p) The Multi-Roller operators take the bodies, whether 
from starting or stoek, and feed them into the ma¬ 
chines, the necessary closing being done on a table 
beside the machine. 

The “standing vats” for the dyes are above the 
multi-rollers and the acid baths between those of a 
pair. After multi-rolling, the spent dye liquor is 
run into the acid bath and the bodies are immersed 
for the proper period. 

(q) The First-sizing closure boys take the bodies from 
the tables back of the multi-rollers and deliver them 
to tables beside the sizing machines. The spent 
dye liquor is pumped from the acid bath vats to 
standing vats above the sizing machines and is 
drawn oT in pails as required by the Sizers. 

(r) All First-sized bodies are delivered to Dry Room 
“D”, after being “whizzed”, and to Stock Room 





RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


231 




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7ptNN/N<\^ 

48. ROUTING DIAGRAM OF THE OPERATIONS IN FINISHING 
A SOFT FELT HAT BODY 






































THE FACTORV BUILDINGS 


No. 2 in the same manner and by the same methods 
as noted under items (k), (1), and (m), above. 

(s) First-sized bodies are delivered as required by 
chute and conveyor to the receiving table in the 
Second-sizing Room by the same means as de¬ 
scribed under item (o). 

(t) Soft bodies thus delivered to conveyor from First¬ 
sized Stock are carried by boys to the soft-stiffen¬ 
ing Department, stiffened, and are then returned 
to the receiving table in the Second-sizing Room. 

(u) All bodies so received are taken by the Second- 
sizing closure boys to the tables beside the Second- 
sizing machines; and after Second-sizing, these are 
finished on the “pinning-out’ ’ tables. These opera¬ 
tors then deliver them to the Delivery Tables. 

(v) Soft second-sized bodies are carried by boys to the 
Blocking and Stretching Room and are placed on 
the Receiving table in that Department. After 
blocking and stretching, the bodies are whizzed and 
delivered by conveyor elevator to Dry Room “C” 
as above described. 

(w) From Dry Room “C”, they pass by chute and 
conveyor to the Soft-pouncing Room; after pounc¬ 
ing they are sorted and stacked in Stock Room 
No. 5 

(x) Stiff second-sized bodies are whizzed and delivered 
by elevator-conveyor to Dry Room “E,” and thence 
to Stock Room No. 3. They are then delivered from 
stock by chutes to the Shaving Room. 

(y) The Shaving-Room operator delivers the bodies 
through a window to the fireproof Stiffening 
Room; they are then stiffened and passed directly 
into the steamer. After steaming they are passed 
through a window to the clearing vats. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


233 


(z) After clearing, the stretching-machine operators or 
helpers take the bodies from the cold-water vats 
to their tables, and stretch the crowns and brims 
to shape. 

(z-z) Boys deliver the stretched hats to the Blocking 
Tables, and after blocking, to the Hydros. After 
whizzing, the hats pass by conveyor-elevator to Dry 
Room “B”, and thence directly by chute and con¬ 
veyor to the brushing table in Stock Room No. 6. 

3. Finishing Soft Hats: 

Soft hats for finishing are delivered from Stock Room 
No. 5 by continuous shelf-elevator to the receiving 
table in the Finishing Room; here they are in¬ 
spected, marked, and assigned to the bench opera¬ 
tors. The latter steam and block the hats and 
deliver them to the distributing tables at each 
group of finishing machines. After ironing, they 
are delivered to the shelf over the ironers adjoin¬ 
ing the crowm-pouncers. 

After crown-pouncing, the hats are delivered to inclined 
shelves, down which they slide to the brim presses. 
After pressing, they are placed on a shelf over the 
presses, whence the brim-pouncer takes them as 
needed. The brim-pouncing machines are to be 
arranged to operate automatically, requiring only 
setting up, starting and stopping, thus releasing 
the operator for other work. Hats from the brim- 
pouncers are delivered to tables from which they 
are taken by bench operators, who round the brims, 
dress the hats, and deliver them to the curling 
machine or the flanging benches. At the proper 
point the blocks are removed, the hats set on racks, 
and delivered to Stock Room No. 7 ready for trim¬ 
ming. 


234 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


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FIG. 49. ROUTING DIAGRAM OF THE OPERATIONS IN FINISHING 

A STIFF FELT HAT BODY 










































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 235 


4. Finishing Stiff Hats: 

Stiff hats for finishing are delivered from Stock Room 
No. 6 by continuous shelf-conveyor to the pressing 
table in the Stiff Hat Department. Thence they 
are carried to the press-man who steams and 
presses them. Defectives are squared up and dried, 
and returned to the presses by the squaring-up 
operator. 

The hats are assigned to the bench operators who steam 
and block them and deliver them to the brim- 
pouncers. After pouncing, the hats are returned 
to the benches for finishing. After finishing they 
are delivered to the curling benches, curled, and 
passed to the setting-up benches. Blocks are re¬ 
moved from flexibles which are then set on racks 
and carried by boys to and from the Binding Room 
and the wiring table; thence to re-curling and 
setting-up. 

The boys who label the hats deliver them to the slicking- 
up and passing table. Boys take the passed hats 
in racks to Stock Room No. 8 ready for trimming. 

5. Trim Make-up Department: 

All trimming materials, such as silks, satins, leathers, 
etc., are delivered direct to the Trim Make-up 
Stock Room, where they are carried in boxes on 
shelves, and in cabinets. They are drawn to order 
and made up as required, being again placed in 
boxes to await orders for delivery to the respec¬ 
tive Trimming Rooms. 

6. Soft and Stiff Trimming Departments: 

While these are separate and distinct departments, the 
operations in each are identical. 

Cut and printed leathers, made-up tips, ribbons, bows, 
etc., are delivered by the Trim Make-up Depart- 







236 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




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Jem rig- up 


FTG. 50. ROUTING DIAGRAM OF THE PROCESSES REQUIRED IN 
MAKING AND FINISHING A STRAW HAT BODY 








































.RECONSTRUCTION 


versus NEW PLANT 237 


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Tp Srm*w Hmv 

£ latUIUat 


FIG. 51. ROUTING DIAGRAM OF THE STEPS IN PREPARING 

THE TRIMMING FOR HATS 


ment to these trimming rooms by dumb-waiter. 
Soft and stiff-hats are received on racks from Stock 
Rooms No. 7 and No. 8 respectively. After trim¬ 
ming, the hats are returned on racks to the same 
stock rooms, whence they are delivered via elevator 
to Finished Stock awaiting packing, Stock Room 
No. 11. 

7. Strniv Hat Making: 

Straw braid is delivered from Stock Room No. 9A to 







































238 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


&Lrasrit»,Tj * <1 n 

ST,'t A *•’ rm.tff..-,* 



r e i.vrt^riart nan 

mm II a» *0T* 

I 

% Jrmm* **r Srmcm 
I* jrm<m **t>o~ /# 

/«►* -r^j ^ » v w C~Pt~* 

FIG. 52. ROUTING DIAGRAM OF THE OPERATIONS IN THE 
HAT TRIMMING DEPARTMENT 

the sewing-machine operators, and by them to the 
passing table. The stiffening-room operator or 
helper delivers them to stiffening and thence to the 
air-blast Drying Room. 

From the latter, the hats as dried out are delivered 
to the bench operators’ boxes, who block and finish 
them and set them on Racks. They are then de¬ 
livered to the brim presses, then to passing table, 

then are steamed and delivered to the Straw Hat 
Trimming Dept. 

Body Hats are delivered from Stock Room No. 9-A 










































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 239 



sr<?**a£ 


\ 






FIG. 53. DIAGRAM OF THE OPERATIONS IN THE PACKING, 
CRATING AND SHIPPING DEPARTMENTS 


direct to the finishers, from which they pass to in¬ 
spection and trim. 

8. Straw Hat Trimming: 

Leathers, cut tips, ribbons, made-up bows, etc., are 
delivered to the Straw Hat Trimming Department 
by boys from the Trim Make-up Department. 
After leather and trim fitting and sewing, the hats 
are delivered in racks to the straw hat Packing 
Rooms; thence by elevator to the Crating Rooms. 

9. Box Making: 

Cardboard for boxes is carried in its Stock Room on 
the first floor, adjoining the Box-making Depart- 











































240 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ment, and drawn as required. As boxes and rings 
are made up, they are delivered to the adjoining 
Box Storage Room. 

10. Packing and crating: 

Soft and stiff hats are delivered from their respective 
Stock Rooms by elevator to the Packing Depart¬ 
ment. After packing, the boxes are delivered di¬ 
rect to the Crating Room, and the packed straw 
hats from the Straw Departments are also received 
here. Crating materials are stocked in this same 
department, and as the hats are crated and marked, 
they are trucked to the Crated Goods Storage. 

11. Crated Goods Storage and Shipping: 

Space is provided on the first, second, and third floors 
of the Main Plant for the storage of crated stock. 
It is delivered by “dodgers” and elevator to any 
of the storage rooms and is stacked by “Revolva- 
tor” elevator. It is delivered in like manner, on 
order, to the Shipping Room and then by “dodger” 
to shipping platform and car or truck. 

12. Other Materials and Supplies: 

Lumber for the Block-making Shop is delivered from 
car or truck direct to the storage shed adjoining 
the Block and Machine-Shop Building, where it is 
left for “air-drying.” This lumber is cut into 
desired lengths as required, and is sent by elevator 
to the steam dry kiln in the Block Shop. 

Pipe, shafting, pulleys, and other mill supplies of this 
nature are stored in racks and bins in the above 
noted shed, from which they are drawn as required. 

General operating supplies are received and carried in 
Stock Room No. 4 behind the Body-making Plant. 

All office materials and supplies are sent as received 
directly to the Supply Room in the General Offices. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 241 


Additional Machines Required.—For a plant of 500- 
dozen hats per day there would be required the fol¬ 
lowing machines, in addition to the equipment now 
in use in the present plant: 


2 Fur Mixers 

1 Tearing Machine 

3 Starting Machines 
34 Sizing Machines 

3 Hydros 

2 Pouncing Machines 

3 Sets Brim-Presses 

2 Sets Brim-Pouncers 


5 Fur Blowers 
3 Forming Mills 

7 Multi-Rollers 

1 Set of three Stretchers 
9 Dye and Washing Machines 
3 Sets Crown-Ironers 

8 Sets Crown-Pouncers 
Steam Tables, etc. 


Plant Equipments.—The equipments as here con¬ 
sidered comprise heating, lighting, plumbing, fire pro¬ 
tection, elevators, conveyors, steam and water systems 
for manufacturing, motors and mechanical transmis¬ 
sion, drying rooms, exhaust and humidifier system, 
shop furniture and fixtures, and so on. Briefly these 
important equipments may be discussed as follows: 

1. Heating: 

The entire heating system, whether direct radiation or 
warm-air blast, will be operated with exhaust steam, vacuum- 
return system. 

Direct Radiation—that is, pipe coils—will be used through¬ 
out the Finishing Plant, except in the Stiff-Hat Finishing 
Department, and wall radiators in the Office Building. 

The warm-air blast system will be used throughout the 
Body-making Plant; humidification is proposed for the Fur¬ 
blowing and Forming Departments, and de-humidification 
for the Stiff-Hat Finishing Department. 

2. Lighting: 

A system of general illumination only is planned for the 


242 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


plant, except where local lights are needed in the offices, 
Machine Shop and Block Shop. Necessary plug outlets arc 
provided for irons and other tools. 

For lighting, a three-wire 110-volt alternating current, 
taken from auto-transformers across the phases of the genera¬ 
tor supply (the loads on the phases being balanced), is led 
to various distribution panels throughout the plant. All 
wire to be rubber-covered, in metal conduit throughout. 
Panels to be of steel, with slate base and gutters; snap, in¬ 
dicating, fused-circuit switches with general-control fused- 
knife switches. 

Plant lighting fixtures to be plain pipe drop-stems with 
metal reflectors. Office fixtures to be of the semi-direct type, 
sufficient to preclude necessity for individual desk lights. 

3. Fire-Protection System :— 

A standard sprinkler system with the necessary hydrants, 
etc., will be placed in all buildings but the Power House. 
No fire pump is contemplated, the secondary supply being 
obtained from a 75,000-gallon elevated, steel storage tank, 
25,000 gallons to be available for general mill use. 

4. Plumbing System and Equipment :— 

The sanitary plumbing system must be such as to conform 
to the local Ordinances. It is assumed that a sewer is avail¬ 
able and that a septic tank will not be needed. Toilet rooms 
will be piped for hot and cold water, with a steam hot-water 
heater for each tier of rooms. An emergency gas-lighting 
system should be provided. 

The water closets contemplated for the factory are of mod¬ 
erate-priced vitreous ware, with seat-operated flush valves; the 
urinal troughs of enamelled iron; the lavatories of enamelled 
iron in batteries; shower baths of a moderate-priced standard 
design. Toilet compartments will be slate with wood doors. 

Drinking fountains throughout the plant should be 
enamelled iron, with self-contained ice chest. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 243 


All roof leaders are planned to be cast iron and run within 
the buildings. 

5. Elevators and Conveyors :— 

All elevators are intended to be of the standard electric 
elevator type for industrial use. 

Conveyors and elevator-conveyors for wet and dry bodies 
and hats are of the belt or chain type as their functions 
require. 

All chutes are of hard wood. 

6. Manufacturing Steam and Water Pipe and Drains :— 

It is proposed to use low-pressure or exhaust steam 
wherever possible in manufacturing operations; all starting, 
sizing, blocking, stretching and clearing machines, and vats 
and dyeing tanks, etc., to be fitted with low-pressure steam 
coils, forming a closed circuit on the vacuum system. 

Steam tables for sand-bag heating are connected in the 
same manner. Steam tables in the Finishing Plant are to 
be fitted with treadle, self-closing steam valves. 

Ilot water for manufacturing and other plant use is to 
be obtained from the economizer and hot-water storage tank 
in the Power Plant, and to be led in well covered pipes to 
the hot-water re-heaters in the various Departments of the 
plant. 

It is planned to drain the floor of the wet rooms by troughs 
in the floor, with cast-iron covers in the aisle-ways, discharg¬ 
ing through drains into sewers. It is assumed that the sewers 
can be discharged into a public sewer or stream without 
further treatment. 

7. Motors and Electrical and Mechanical Transmission :— 

In view of the saving effected in the cost of wiring, switches, 

motors, etc., by using 440-volt, three-phase current, we recom¬ 
mend purchasing an entirely new complement of motors; the 
present 220-volt, two-phase motors in this case would be dis¬ 
carded. 


244 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


All new motors should be of the squirrel-cape type, except 
the fan motors which should be synchronous machines. \\ hile 
these are more expensive they aid in correcting the “power 
factor’* which otherwise will be extremely low, reducing the 
power capacity of the generator and all lines. 

Power wiring and panels are to be of the same kind as 
the light wiring, except that all conduits will be run exposed 
and the panels will be fitted with knife switches. 

As regards mechanical trasmission, we have assumed equip¬ 
ment of good quality; hangers and belting, especially, to be 
of high grade. 

8. Dry Rootns, Hot-Blast Heating, Exhaust Systems , etc .:— 

All radiation for the hot-blast systems should be “vento” 

cast-iron sections. In the Body-making Plant the fans and 
heaters should be set in a pent-house above the Wet Shop 
and on the roofs of the Dry Rooms. In the case of the Wet 
Shop, the sheet-metal ducts should be run along the trusses, 
with branch flues discharging air at the columns about three 
feet above the floor, thus forcing out the steam and foul air 
directly through the roof ventilators or through hoods over 
the machines. 

We would recommend the “Carrier” system for humidify¬ 
ing the Blowing and Forming Room and for dehumidifying 
the Stiff-IIat Finishing Room. The air blast for the Dry 
Rooms in the Straw-Hat Finishing Department, and the ex¬ 
haust systems in the Pouncing, Finishing, and other Depart¬ 
ments should be of standard type. 

9. Shop Furniture and Fixtures :— 

The plans of the suggested plant quite clearly indicate 
the extent of the shop furniture and fixtures required. These 
include a refrigerator outfit for the Forming Department, 
portable vacuum cleaners, benches, tables, trucks, scales, 
storage bins, cabinets and shelves, department desks, chairs, 
lockers, etc. 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


245 


10. Office Furniture and Fixtures :— 

}\e have, in onr estimate of the cost of the suggested plant 
included a reasonable sum for a considerable extension of 
the office equipment above that now in use in the present 
plant, as the plans would indicate. 

Power Requirements.— We have estimated the 
power and steam requirements of the suggested plant, 
with a production of 500-dozen hats per day, some¬ 
what as follows: 

Connected Motor Load.715 horsepower 

Assuming a 65% load factor this 

equals .465 “ 

With 10-lb. back-pressure on the 

engine this approximates.450 Boiler horsepower 

Add equivalent of maximum lighting 

load, say.100 “ “ 

Add for power-plan auxiliaries. 75 “ “ 

Steam for Drying Rooms.150 “ “ 

“ “ Heating Buildings.250 

“ “ Manufacturing Use.100 “ “ 

“ “ Instantaneous hot-water 

heaters. 75 “ li 


Gross Steam Demand .1200 Boiler horsepower 

Deduct value of exhaust steam obtained 
from Power Plant Units for use in 
drying, manufacturing, etc.450 


Maximum Winter Steam Load . .. .750 Boiler horsepower 


< t n 


Estimated Max. Summer Load... .500 


















246 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


This estimate of the steam and power requirements 
is based upon such an economical type of power plant 
as that indicated in the plans, also upon the assump¬ 
tion of using all the engine exhaust for manufactur¬ 
ing as noted. 

The power-plant equipment as contemplated, com¬ 
prises briefly, the following: 

Mechanical coal and ash-handling plant with track hopper 
and overhead coal-storage bin, 

Two 400 hp. Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, equipped 
with Taylor stokers and automatic scales; stack and breech¬ 
ing, ] ; \Jj| 

Two 250 kw. high-speed Ball engines, direct-connected to 
440-volt alternating-current generators — also direct-con¬ 
nected exciters, 

Two Burnham Duplex boiler-feed pumps, 

One Blake-Knowles vacuum pump, 

One Norwalk straight-line air compressor, 

Greene fuel economizer, 

Feed-water heater meter, 

Hot-water storage tank, 

Controlling and recording instruments, 

Power switchboard with remote-control desk, 

Miscellaneous operating equipment. 

Estimated Cost of New Plant.—In our opinion the 

cost of such a complete plant as suggested, equipped 
with every facility for most economical operation, 
and having a capacity of 500-dozen hats per day 
would approximate $750,000. We briefly summarize 
our estimate of the cost of the new plant as sug¬ 
gested to be: 


RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 247 


Real Estate—Factory Site.$ 5,000 

Grading property and spur siding. 12,000 

All plant buildings, complete. 412,000 

Plant heating system. 11,500 

Plant lighting system. 5,000 

Plant plumbing system. 16,000 

Complete fire protection—including steel tower 

tank and sprinkler system. 22,500 

Elevators and conveyors. 13,500 

* Mfg. steam and water piping and drains. 15,000 

Motors and electrical and mechanical transmission. 20,000 

Drying Rooms and hot-blast systems. 15,000 

Exhaust and humidifier systems. 22,500 

Additional manufacturing machines. 52,500 

Shop furniture and fixtures. 12,500 

Power-plant equipment complete. 85,000 

Office furniture and fixtures. 5,000 

Cost of moving. 10,000 

Allowance for other expenses. 50,000 


Total .$ 785,000 

Deduct: 

Allowance for Value possibly obtained from Sale 

of Present Plant. 35,500 


Total—Estimated Cost .$ 750,000 


Practicability of Partial New Development.—We be¬ 
lieve that the suggested ideal plant lends itself par¬ 
ticularly well to a partial development. In this con¬ 
nection we call your attention to Plan No. 13, Figure 
54, in which we present a study of such a partial de¬ 
velopment which quite clearly indicates our sugges¬ 
tion for the first unit. 
























248 


TIIK FAC TORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 54. (PLAN 13) PARTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAL PLANT 

TO MEET PRESENT OUTPUT 


This scheme comprises the Body-making Building 
and the Power-house Building complete, as called for 
in the plans of the final full development. It also 
includes that wing of the four-storv Finishing Plant 
that adjoins the end of the Body Plant; also a tempo¬ 
rary one-story framed building for block-making, 
Crating, and Storage. The long wing of the Finish¬ 
ing Building, called for in the complete plant, is 
omitted, as are also the Office, Machine and Block 
Shop, and Garage Buildings. 

Such a partial development should provide a Body¬ 
making Plant of the desired area for the production 




















































































RECONSTRUCTION versus NEW PLANT 


249 


of 400 bodies per day and a Finishing Plant capable 
of an output of 250 to 300-dozen hats per day. 

All of the plant buildings (except the temporary 
Crating and Storage Shed) and the entire plant 
equipment are devised to follow the specifications 
previously laid down for the completed plant, with 
the exception of the omission of additional manufac¬ 
turing machines and auxiliary equipments and a part 
of the power-plant equipment. 

Our Estimate of the cost of this suggested scheme 
is approximately $375,000 net, as follows: 


Real Estate,—Site and Grading, etc.$ 

Plant Buildings, as noted. 

Building, equipments, including heating, lighting, 

plumbing, and fire protection. 

Elevators and conveyors. 

Motors and electrical and mechanical transmission. 

Mfg. Steam and Water Piping and Drains. 

Drying Rooms, hot-blast, and exhaust and ventilat¬ 
ing humidifying units. 

Additional manufacturing machines. 

Shop furniture and fixtures. 

Office furniture and fixtures. 

Power-plant equipment. 

Cost of moving. 


15,000 

267,500 


30,000 

8,500 

12,000 

10,000 

10,000 

5,000 

1,000 

41,000 

10,000 


Total.,' .$ 410,000 

Deduct: 

Allowance from Sale of Present Plant, say.- 35,000 


Estimated Cost of Suggested Partial Development $ 375,000 
















250 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

The floor areas provided with such a partial devel¬ 
opment total 175,000 square feet, as follows: 

Body-making Plant (same as for complete 

plant). 95,320 sq. ft. 

Soft Hat Finishing.12,400 

Soft Trimming. 2,700 

- 15,100 41 44 

Stiff Hat Finishing.10,800 

Stiff Trimming. 2,500 

- 13,300 44 44 

Straw Hat Making. 8,000 

Storage and Packing. 1,140 

- 9,140 44 44 

Trim Make-up Department. 4,100 

Printing . 1,140 

- 5,240 44 44 

Paper Box Department. 4,000 44 44 

Packing and Shipping: 

Finished Stock Storage . 2,600 

Packing . 2,200 

Crating, Crated Stock and Shipping. 12,700 

- 17,500 44 44 

Block Shop, etc. 4,000 44 44 

Power House. 7,400 44 44 


Total Floor Area . 171,000 sq. ft. 

It is noted that the scheme of partial development 
suggested provides for the later extension of the 
plant to the full ideal development planned for with¬ 
out in any way disturbing the arrangement of build¬ 
ings or manufacturing departments, other than the 
temporary Crating and Storage Plant. 

























CHAPTER VIII 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 

Importance of Proper Design. —Factory buildings 
are not ‘ 4 merely supplementary to their contents/’ 
as some contend but instead they are vital elements 
of the manufacturing plant of which they are a part, 
and the primary purpose of which is profit. Properly 
designed, well constructed, and adequately equipped 
they are instruments of real earning power. 

In the preceding chapters much stress was laid 
upon the importance of plant layout and arrangement 
and the imperative need of a comprehensive grasp of 
the demands and requirements of the industry in 
question, in all its essentials, preliminary to any 
attempt to increase its manufacturing facilities by the 
improvement and extension of the existing factory or 
the development of any new and enlarged plant. It 
is of no less importance, however, that knowing the 
needs of such an industry and the best scheme for 
its general development, one should determine how 
to meet such known needs in the most practical and 
satisfying way in every detail; and this includes 
among the major elements at issue the design of the 
factory buildings. The buildings in themselves, and 
aside from the effect of their arrangement or relation 
to each other and the general layout of the plant, 
have a marked influence resulting from their general 

251 


252 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


design or form, their character of construction and 
equipment, and their finish and appearance; and this 
may be direct and pronounced in purely physical 
ways, or indirect and difficult to measure in its no 
less important psychological effects. 

Evolution of the Modern Building.—Many of our 
industrial engineers and architects have long appre¬ 
ciated that the factory buildings have either a direct 
or reflex influence upon nearly every phase of the 
plant operations and in some degree upon the general 
business as well; and the result of their efforts, both 
individual and concerted to meet every demand and 
need of the plant and the business insofar as they 
were effected by the plant buildings, has been a 
gradual evolution from the “four-wall, roof and floor, 
dismal factory box” to the modern, fireproofed, well- 
lighted, adequately ventilated, permanent structure of 
to-day—the modern Factory Building, designed for a 
special purpose, to meet specific needs, affording most 
comfortable and efficient work rooms and a pleasing 
and attractive exterior design and finish. 

Just what this evolution means and what it has 
amounted to may be quite appreciated by a glance at 
Figures 55, 56, and 57. The typical “old style fac¬ 
tory” for the manufacture of machine tools is illus¬ 
trated in Figure 55, and this type is still in use. 
Contrast this with the “modern factory building,” 
constructed for the same class of manufacture shown 
in Figure 56. Then turn to Figure 57 and note the 
“old” and the “new” side by side. 

The Development of Types.—The modern factory 
building has not become, however, as some are inclined 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 


253 



FIGS. 55, 56, AND 57. OLD STYLE, MODERN AND A COMBINATION 
OF THE TWO TYPES OF FACTORY BUILDINGS 

to believe, an entirely standardized structure; for, while 
we have reduced our great number of diversified in¬ 
dustries to a few general typical classifications, 













254 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


wherein the operations conform to more or less uni¬ 
form processes and methods, and so have evolved 
somewhat correspondingly general types of factory 
buildings, we still have not and cannot have any one 
especial design, nor yet any typical set or sets of 
patterns, fitting factories in general, without notable 
adjustment, modification, and change to fit the ever 
variable needs of any individual application, if the 
results of that application are to produce the com¬ 
plete or even essential satisfaction sought. 

Typical Forms of Buildings.—There has been in 
the evolution of the modern factory building, how¬ 
ever, a logical and healthy tendency from several 
causes toward type classification, and this has em¬ 
braced not only the form of design and the character 
of construction, but the exterior architectural treat¬ 
ment as well. The natural classification of similar 
manufacturers into typical groups, wherein the plant 
equipments and operations are generally character¬ 
istic, led interested owners, engineers and architects 
to co-operate in their studies of possible improve¬ 
ments in the general form or outline of that shape 
and size of building which experience indicates as 
the best adaptable to the particular class of industry 
or work under consideration. This has resulted in 
the refined development of some several designs of 
buildings, whose cross-sectional outlines may be taken 
as more or less indicative of the most approved forms. 

The types of design or typical forms of modern 
factory buildings may be summarized somewhat as 
follows, though each is capable of wide variety of 
design and considerable divergence in dimensions: 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 255 


1. The one-story General Utility building of rather narrow 

rectangular cross-section, flat or sloping continuous roof, 
and side window lighting, adapted to a wide variety of 
light manufacturing. 

2. The one-story “Saw-Tooth Roof” building for textile 

and general manufacturing purposes, of any desirable 
width of cross-section and providing overhead day¬ 
lighting and ventilation by means of continuous sash in 
each roof bay. 

3. The one-story Machine and Heavy General Manufacturing 

building of wide rectangular cross-section, with flat or 
sloping side roofs, and central monitor with glass sash 
for additional lighting and ventilation. 

4. The one-story, or one-story and side gallery, Heavy Ma¬ 

chine, Forge Shop, and Foundry building of rather 
wide cross section, with high central bay and craneway, 
and flat or sloping roofs, with continuous upper side- 
wall monitor sash for additional lighting and ventilation. 

5. The multi-story building of both light and heavy design 

for a wide variety of manufacturing work or storage, 
of limited cross-sectional width, with natural lighting 
and ventilation from the side wall windows only. 

6. Special and miscellaneous buildings,—such as power 

houses, warehouses, office and administration buildings 
and others of like character, whose purpose is other 
than purely manufacturing. 

Construction Materials.—The generally available 
materials of construction for factory buildings are 
limited in number. Those most commonly used in 
the structural elements are brick, timber, steel, and 
concrete. It is with these that the engineer has to 
work, and as his business is the ‘ 4 science of con¬ 
struction” his paramount consideration has been the 


256 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


structural fitness and economy of use of the materials 
available and required. 

Other very vital demands have developed with the 
increasing appreciation that factory buildings might 
be made a real earning asset, and the need of reduc¬ 
ing fire hazards and losses, the necessity for a great 
deal more daylight in the factory and its adequacy 
in all work rooms, the requirements of proper venti¬ 
lation and the desire to afford comfortable and sani¬ 
tary conveniences and all possible safety to the occu¬ 
pants in their work and travel in and through the 
buildings, both during normal and emergency condi¬ 
tions, all became dominant influences in the selection 
and use of the materials of construction. 

By the concerted efforts of the engineers, engaged 
in the design of such buildings, of the manufacturers 
of the many materials of construction, of the insur¬ 
ance interests of the country through the Under¬ 
writers Association, and of the Labor Departments 
of many of the states, there have been evolved certain 
approved classes of construction for the several forms 
of factory buildings; and these have become so gen¬ 
erally accepted that they are recognized as distinct 
types. 

Such generally approved types or classes of con¬ 
struction may be noted in brief as follows: 

1. Brick and timber construction—of the “slow-burning mill 

design”, with concrete foundations, brick walls, with 
timber columns, girders and beams, and heavy plank 
intermediate floors and roof. 

2. Brick and steel construction—of the “fire-retardent” type, 

with steel columns, girders and beams exposed; with 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 257 


concrete or heavy plank floors and roof, and brick, tile 
or concrete curtain walls. 

3. Brick and steel “ fire-resistent ’ ’ construction—with in¬ 

terior steel columns, girders and beams covered with fire- 
resistent materials, and with concrete floors and roof. 

4. Steel skeleton—“fire-retardent type”, with all steel ex¬ 

posed and with brick or concrete curtain walls and 
heavy plank or concrete floors and roof; or “ fire-resist¬ 
ent” throughout, with all wall columns embedded in 
brick pilasters, all interior columns, girders and beams 
encased with tile or concrete, and with concrete floors 
and roof. 

5. Reinforced concrete—entirely of “fire-resistent” construc¬ 

tion and of the beam and girder or flat slab floor and 
roof design, with all the structural work of reinforced 
concrete excepting the curtain walls between columns or 
pilasters, which may be of brick, hollow tile, concrete or 
other fire-resistent materials. 

6. Miscellaneous construction—of various types, for low cost 

or temporary buildings, such as “all framed” with 
board, sheet metal or light expanded-metal-concrete 
siding; “all steel” with sheet metal or expanded-metal- 
concrete siding and roofing, or “pressed steel skeleton” 

with sheet steel or expanded-metal-concrete siding. 

% 

Architectural Characteristics.—With the growth of 
our industries there fortunately followed apace an 
increasing perception of the value of properly hous¬ 
ing our manufacturing plants. Necessity first fur¬ 
nished the inspiration of better factory buildings in 
answer to purely economic demands. The movement 
gained considerable impetus because of the business 
sagacity of those who experienced its benefits; it has 
been fostered in no mean way by the growth of the 



258 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


spirit of the “square deal” towards the right of our 
workers, and it is responding to our instinctive pride 
and our appreciation of the beautiful. 

Engineering Treatment.—Modern industrial build¬ 
ings are structures which, in themselves, are subjects 
of great interest; they are particularly susceptible to 
attractive design and many of their features may be 
given simple and inexpensive treatment which adds 
much that is desirable to the character of the com¬ 
position. 

For many years the design of industrial buildings 
was left largely to the engineer whose main thought 
was, and rightly so, adaptability of the building to 
the manufacturing requirements of the plant. He 
sought for structural fitness and economy of design, 
both in materials used and the execution of the 
work, rather than for any especial architectural ex¬ 
pression other than a “clean cut” effect presenting 
pleasing lines and the appearance of strength and 
endurance. 

Owners at that time concurred in the ideas and 
ideals of the engineers, and joined in the somewhat 
popular belief of those days that art had little in 
common with industry; and that there was danger 
even in consulting with the architect regarding the 
plant buildings, lest one be led into “trimming up” 
the practical work of the engineer “with a few mean¬ 
ingless and costly ornaments having no relation to 
the structural design.” 

Architectural Treatment.—With the growth of the 
demand for “better” factory buildings, however, 
came the desire for their “better external appear- 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 259 


ance.” It was really a wish for the application of 
the “art of construction” to industrial work, though 
there was timidity in so expressing it until after the 
advent of some of the more recently available build¬ 
ing materials—such as reinforced concrete and steel 
sash of large glass area—and their application in a 
number of buildings whose design proved most de¬ 
cidedly unattractive because of unnatural and in¬ 
artistic treatment and finish. 

It was these unfortunate examples that, more than 
all else, led both plant owners and engineers to 
seek the assistance of the architect in these problems. 
Eventually there was brought about extended co¬ 
operative studies of industrial structures which led, 
not only to the attractive development of the rein¬ 
forced concrete factory building, as we know it at the 
present time, hut also to such a vast improvement in 
the architectural treatment of industrial buildings in 
general that today we have many illustrations of the 
real beauty and dignity of such essentially engineer¬ 
ing structures as the factory bidding when clothed by 
those skilled in the art, “with materials so cut and 
fitted as to idealize its purpose without structural 
pretense.’’ 

Result of Co-operative Effect.—Undoubtedly it is 
this very co-operation in the development of the 
proper architectural treatment of our factory build¬ 
ings that is bringing about for us a special or gener¬ 
ally accepted form of industrial architecture; one that 
is really an expression of the present day atmosphere 
of simplicity, lack of pretense, solidity, industrial 
freedom, joy in work, equality of all labor—brain and 


260 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


manual—in the rights to the most comfortable of 
working conditions and surroundings and pride in 
the business of which we are a part. 

While one may hardly say that we have reduced 
the design of our industrial buildings to any one of 
the well defined “orders of architecture/’ there is, 
nevertheless, a marked tendency toward the severe 
“gothic”, the basis of which was that “every part 
of the building, including what might seem at first 
sight to be mere ornament should have a construc- 
tural value”. We are certainly bringing the archi¬ 
tectural characteristics of such buildings to a typical 
basis and to a form, the first principles of which are 
strictly ultilitarian—essential demands and correct 
proportions; the main treatment of which adheres to 
clean lines and depends for its attractiveness upon 
the proper distribution of the materials used; while 
the architectural beauty is augmented by the decor¬ 
ative use of such materials—that is, by the skilful 
employment of their texture, color and arrangement, 
and by the appropriate treatment of piers, lintels, 
arches, copings, entrances and other prominent ele¬ 
ments of the facades to give them the emphasis re¬ 
quired in a well balanced composition. 

As illustrating the lack as well as indicating the 
possibilities of co-operative effort between the plant 
owner, the engineer, and the architect refer to Fig¬ 
ures 58, 59, and 60. 

The factory illustrated in Figure 58 was designed 
by the owners without any outside engineering or 
architectural consultation or advice. This building is 
a very substantial structure, with good interior light- 


GENERAL DESIGN OF TIIE BUILDINGS 261 


■ 









FIGS. 58 AND 59. AN HONEST ATTEMPT BY THE OWNER FOR A 
PLEASING DESIGN (above). NO EFFORT BY OWNER OR ENGINEER 
TO EFFECT A PLEASING EXTERIOR (below). 






















262 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 60. TYPICAL OF OWNER’S CHARACTER, ENGINEER’S 
ABILITY, AND ARCHITECTS’ SKILL 
E. \Y. Ituss, Engineer and Architect 

ing and ventilation and it answers the operating re¬ 
quirements of the business in a very satisfactory way. 
The design shows that an honest attempt was made 
for a pleasing exterior—else why the panelled brick 
work and the “ decoratively capped corner posts.’’ 

Figure 59 also illustrates an honest design, in that 
this factory building boldly cries out that both the 
owner and the contracting-engineer neither cared a 
whit about the beautiful nor had any money or time 
to spend in seeking architectural advice, nor even 
sufficient ambition to attempt an effort to utilize the 
strictly utilitarian in a pleasing way. 

As a contrast to this turn to the factory building 
shown in Figure 60; this is representative of the 
modern industrial spirit. It is in itself evidence of 
the owner’s character, the engineer’s ability, and the 














GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 263 


architect’s skill; and it quite fully illustrates the 
benefits of the co-operative effort which is so much 
to be desired in our industrial buildings. 

A Discussion of Types.—The determination of the 
general design of a factory building or group of such 
buildings must be predicated upon a thorough knowl¬ 
edge of the purpose to be met, and therefrom a deci¬ 
sion made relative to the three principal elements 
governing each and every individual case: first, the 
form of the building; second, its character of con¬ 
struction and the materials to be used; and third, its 
general exterior treatment. 

A decision as to the proper form of any factory 
building depends in the first instance upon the nature 
of the manufacturing processes to be therein carried 
on, secondly on their magnitude and interdependence, 
and finally upon the relation of the several buildings 
of the plant to each other, the extent of the proposed 
or available site, and the cost of the land required. 

In the selection of the type of construction for the 
building, one must first be guided by the structural 
requirements of the form decided upon; secondly, by 
any especial operating equipments or needs that have 
an influence thereon, and finally by such economic 
considerations as the availability of various materials 
required and their adaptability, the permanence of 
the structure and the security afforded thereby, and 
its comparative first cost and maintenance charges. 

The controlling elements in the general exterior 
treatment of the factory building must necessarily be 
the mass form of the building, the disposition of its 
structural members, and the color and texture of the 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


264 

main masses of materials employed; and these must 
be made to serve their function without the sacrifice 
of practical requirements or the addition of lavish 
ornamentation in obtaining the desired architectural 
results. There are other influences, such as location, 
surroundings and nature of the industry, which have 
a very important bearing on this matter; these must 
all be given due consideration, and the entire subject 
must be handled with true architectural skill if one 
is to provide the desired beauty and attractiveness 
in the finished structure. 

It is not possible other than in an exhaustive 
treatise to discuss the great mass of scientific detail 
involved in the principles applied to the design of 
factory buildings, but the following illustrations of 
some of the approved forms of factory construction 
and some of the typical modern industrial buildings 
are presented as practical examples of the application 
of the principles underlying this work. 

The One-Story Building.—This form of building in 
a wide variety of designs is very commonly used in 
part or in whole for the housing of many industries. 
It is the only possible type in some instances and the 
most practical in many others, such as in the case of 
foundries, forge and machine shops and other heavy 
manufactures, or where a wide unbroken expanse of 
floor area is required. It has, in some ways, other 
marked advantages over multiple-story buildings, 
particularly where the plant site is of large area and 
fairly level and where the materials and processes 
are such that the travel of the goods may be made 
to follow in sequence along a “straight line” system. 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 265 


Where such one-story buildings cover a large area 
they have proved more economical than higher or 
multiple-story buildings in cost of floor area, super¬ 
vision of operations, moving of stock in process of 
manufacture, and in the setting and repair of ma¬ 
chinery, much of which can be run at a higher speed 
than is possible in buildings of other types because 
of the solid foundations afforded by the one-story 
building. Some of the general advantages afforded 
by one-story buildings are as follows: 

1. Better natural lighting, with means of a uniform diffusion 

of light throughout the entire interior; 

2. The possibilities of good ventilation are better and the 

buildings are more easily heated; 

3. The foundations for all machinery are cheaper, and in 

many instances the machinery may be set directly upon 
the floor without damage by vibration; 

4. The cost of floor construction is cheaper and a greater 

variety in the construction of such floors, particularly 
wearing surfaces, is possible without excessive expense; 

5. Control of the manufacturing operations is, in many in¬ 

stances, much more effective, as the workmen are more 
directly under the eye of the superintendent; 

6. In many ways the materials of manufacture are much 

more readily and cheaply handled; 

7. The buildings may be designed to admit of indefinite 

expansion in any direction; • 

8. The cost of construction, all things considered and par¬ 

ticularly where the building covers a considerable area, 
is somewhat less than for other types of buildings; 

0. There is less danger from fire in the properly constructed 
one-story building than in any other type, owing to its 
confinement to lateral spread only. 


266 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




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63. CROSS-SECTION OF BRICK AND STEEL I_ - _J 

BUILDING—30 FEET WIDE FI0> 64 CROS8-8ECTION OF ERICK AND 

w.ldino—: o ; ei;t wide 

































































GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 267 


The General Utility Type.—As previously noted 
under the caption of “Typical Forms of Buildings” 
there are four general forms of the one-story build¬ 
ing, each capable of a wide variety of design. 
Those used for general manufacture, however, are 
usually of either the co-called “general utility” or 
‘‘saw tooth” types; the former being rectangular in 
cross section, not more than sixty feet in width, and 
depending upon side wall windows for natural light¬ 
ing; the latter may be of any desired width, as a 
uniform diffusion of natural light is provided by the 
continuous glass sash in the saw teeth in each bay of 
the roof. 

The “general utility” type is commonly built in 
widths varying from the very narrow special build¬ 
ings of twenty or more feet to the standards of forty, 
fifty, or sixty feet, the latter being the maximum of 
good practice. The wide building is the most eco¬ 
nomical in construction, but sixty feet is the extreme 
for a well lighted interior. The cost for lesser 
widths, particularly those under forty feet, increases 
very materially with the decrease in width, but they 
are nevertheless often used for special purposes. 
Various types and forms of construction are used for 
this type of building and those generally approved 
are shown in Figures 61 to 69. 

Concrete Building—Twenty Feet Wide.—The 
simplest form of such a building is perhaps that 
shown in cross-section in Figure 61; this particular 
building is a Cloth Finishing Boom, 20 feet wide and 
100 feet long, which was built as a connecting work¬ 
room for certain special processing between the Gen- 


268 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

eral Finishing and Making-up departments of a tex¬ 
tile plant. 

This is a structure of the best fire-resistent type; it 
is as nearly fireproof as any building may be made. 
The reinforced concrete skeleton, supported on a 12- 
inch concrete foundation wall with 20-inch footings, 
is made up of 12 x 24-inch wall columns spaced 10 
feet on centers, with 8 x 14-inch tee-beams supporting 
the 5-inch concrete roof (reinforced to avoid tie 
beams and afford a flat, large panelled ceiling), and 
a continuous parapet beam and parapet wall, the lat¬ 
ter being only 8 inches thick. The entire skeleton, 
including roof deck and parapet is reinforced and 
poured as an integral structure. 

The panelled side walls are of brick, 8 inches thick, 
and the windows, extending the full width of the 
opening between the concrete wall columns and from 
within three feet of the floor to the level of the under¬ 
side of the concrete roof beams, are 4 ‘Fenestra ’ 9 steel 
8&sh 9 8 feet wide by 11 feet high, glazed with 14 x 20- 
inch rough wire glass. The sills are of concrete, with 
under drip bead on the outside and finished at a 
sharp angle on the inside to prevent the accumula¬ 
tion of dirt or other materials thereon. The concrete 
wall supporting the brick panels is finished with a 
sloping water table to prevent any seepage of water 
at this point of juncture. 

The floor, which is 12-inches above the yard grade, 
is laid on a well tamped and compacted earth fill and 
consists of 5 inches of cinder concrete, trowelled 
smooth and covered with a wearing surface of 
Johns-Manville 1^4-inch asphalt mastic flooring with 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 2G9 


4-incli cove base. This type of floor was used because 
it is quiet, dustless and sanitary, and particularly 
resilient for the workers who, in this instance, stand 
continually at their work. 

The concrete roof deck is covered with a “Barrett 
Specification” felt and tar and gravel roofing, with 
“Flex Lock” flashing; drainage is through Holt roof- 
connector outlets to inside cast iron leaders, discharg¬ 
ing into an outside underground drain. 

The doors at each end of the building connecting 
with the adjoining buildings are both “Fenestra” 
swinging double doors, double hung, with steel 
frames, steel lower panel and clear wide-glass upper 
panels. Both are protected by automatic self-clos¬ 
ing fire doors placed on the outside of the walls of 
the adjoining buildings. The one emergency door, 
provided for exit to the yard, is a “Fenestra” single¬ 
swing door equipped with a “panic” lock. 

The next best type of construction for this build¬ 
ing would have been that shown in Figure 62, with 
all brick walls on concrete foundations, the brick 
pilasters being 12 inches thick and the curtain walls 
8 inches; while the steel sash should be provided with 
camber heads so as to use a rather flat 12-inch arch 
to support the 8-inch parapet wall instead of the 
otherwise necessary steel lintels. The roof construc¬ 
tion would consist of 6 x 14-inch timber beams—long 
leaf yellow pine—on nine foot centers and set in iron 
wall boxes, with 6 x 2 x 6-inch bevelled spiking strips, 
bolted thereto to afford the necessary roof pitch, and 
the roof deck should be 3-inch tongued and grooved 
plank, with the under edges slightly bevelled so as to 


270 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


make a V joint. While this construction is one of 
the best types, with beams of large cross sectional 
area and roof of heavy plank set directly thereon, 
providing the best possible retardent to fire, it lacks 
some of the permanence of the “all concrete” type— 
also some of its advantages—by slightly reducing the 
size of the windows and increasing the number of 
panels of bays, and this requires two additional win¬ 
dows as well as additional sprinkler heads (if the 
sprinkler system is installed, as it should be) and also 
additional electric lighting units. 

Brick and Steel—Thirty Feet Wide.—Before taking 
up what might be termed the standards of the “gen¬ 
eral utility” type of building, that is, those from 
forty to sixty feet in width which require either in¬ 
termediate columns or trusses for supporting the roof, 
it may be worth while to describe briefly a manufac¬ 
turing building of this type, thirty feet wide, which 
was constructed with a very simple system of roof 
design to afford a flat large-panelled ceiling without 
intermediate columns and which really represents the 
economical maximum width of such a beam span 
design. 

This building, which is shown in cross section in 
Figure 63, is one of three of like type designed for 
the manufacture of certain celluloid specialties where 
the operations in question required a strong light 
and where, because of the inflammable nature of the 
product, fire-proofed construction was essential. 

Each unit is of brick on concrete foundation. The 
walls are 12 inches thick with 16 x 24-inch pilasters 
every ten feet on centers, the 4-inch pilaster projec- 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 271 


tion being on the inside of the building, thus giving 
a flush exterior which was inexpensively treated but 
in such a way as to effect a rather attractive appear¬ 
ance. The concrete water table, which extended 12 
inches above yard grade, projected two inches be¬ 
yond the face of the brickwork; upon this the brick¬ 
work was started with a 16-incli soldier course base. 
The window sills were of concrete; the rather flat 
window arches were continued as a 12-inch soldier 
course about the building, and the wall coping was 
of concrete. 

The roof construction consisted of 15-inch, 42-pound 
I-beams placed 10 feet on centers, and these were 
carried on 12 x 15 x %-inch steel wall-plates set in 
the pilasters; this was covered by a “Metropolitan” 
gypsum roof slab of three inch minimum thickness, 
reinforced with steel cables. Integral with this the 
steel beams were covered by the same composition from 
one and one-half to two inch in thickness, thus fire¬ 
proofing the whole roof structure. 

This type of roof deck was selected because of its 
lightness, durability, smooth ceiling finish, fire-pro¬ 
tecting qualities, and non-conductivity which is of no 
mean advantage during the hot weather periods. The 
roof pitch required for drainage was built up of the 
same material, the crickets being formed in place. 
The roof covering was a five-ply built-up tar and 
gravel roofing, following the Barrett specifications. 
‘‘Flex Lock” flashing and Holt connectors were speci¬ 
fied for drainage, with inside cast-iron leaders. 

The underfloor was of concrete laid on a cinder fill; 
the concrete being five inches thick and covered with 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


a top or finished floor of “MarEleloid” with a (5-inch 
coved base. This floor was chosen because of its fire¬ 
proof and sanitary qualities, its freedom from abra¬ 
sion, its fair amount of resiliency, and its attractive 
dark red color. 

The entire interior of the building, including the 
ceiling, beams and side walls, were painted a flat 
white—“egg shell finish”. The space between the 
coved floor base and the underside of the window 
sills, however, was painted a dark green, as were also 
the steel window sasli and doors. The type of roof 
construction used with the large flat panels of smooth 
finish, painted white, afforded a splendid diffusion of 
both natural and artificial light, the latter being the 
semi-direct system of general illumination. 

The usual forms of the one-story building of the 
type under discussion—that is, those of the more 
commonly used widths—follow generally some one of 
the outlines shown in Figures 64 to 69. These sug¬ 
gest the most approved types of construction for such 
buildings, and these types and methods are briefly 
described in the following discussion: 

Brick and Timber—Forty Feet Wide.—In Figure 
64 is shown the cross-section of a “brick and timber” 
building of forty feet clear span, which is a good 
example of the “slow burning” type of construction 
and which, equipped with automatic sprinklers, af¬ 
fords every reasonable protection against fire. 

The brick walls, 12 inches thick, are carried on 
16-inch concrete foundations. The timber trusses, of 
which the smaller section of 6 x 6 inches are spaced 
ten feet on centers, and the ends are carried in Goetz 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 273 


wall boxes set into the walls. No roof purlins are 
used, and 3^4-inch tongued and grooved roof plank 
is spiked directly to the trusses, the joints being 
broken every third plank at every alternate truss. 

The roof is covered with Johns-Manville four-ply 
pitch slag, with felt and metal flashing. Roof drain¬ 
age is through inside leaders, with lead thimbles and 



—50 FEET WIDE 

galvanized wire guards, the drainage crickets being 
formed with 1%-inch plank. 

The steel sash windows are 7% feet wide by 12 
feet high, with steel plate, camber heads, concrete 
sills, and brick arches; both top and bottom sections 
of the sash contain ventilating units. 

The floor is of concrete, 5 inches thick with a one 
inch top coat, “master builders” finish. For the 
purpose of ventilation and the removal of dead air at 
the apex of the roof, 18-inch Globe ventilators are in¬ 
stalled in every third bay; these are provided with 
double-flanged bases with through bolts, so as to se¬ 
cure and support the plank properly thereto. 

Brick and Steel—Fifty Feet Wide.—Figure 65 illus- 















274 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


trates a brick and steel building, 50 feet wide, of con¬ 
siderably different floor and roof construction than 
that shown in Figure 64. In this case tlie trusses are 
of steel, on 18-foot centers and carried on 16 x 36-inch 
pilasters. Steel purlins, seven feet on centers, are used 
to support a “Metropolitan’’ gypsum roof slab. The 
roof covering is a four-ply pitch slag, with felt and 
metal flashing. The crickets are formed of the same 
material as the roof slab, and drainage is through 
inside cast-iron leaders with lead thimbles and brass 
ferrule connectors. 

The Lupton steel-sash windows are 12 feet wide by 
12 feet high, with steel lintels, and a 12-incli brick 
soldier course over the windows is carried entirely 
around the building. There is a 16-inch soldier 
course at the base of the building and a similar 12- 
inch course at the top with a concrete coping. 

The floor of this building is of three inch tongued 
and grooved plank, with 1%-incli maple top floor, the 
plank being spiked directly to a “tar-rock concrete’’ 
base with cinder concrete sub-base; this construction 
is used to prevent dampness and to protect the plank 
and top floor from rot. 

Brick and Steel—Sixty Feet Wide.—Figure 66 is 
an example of a building, 60 feet wide, somewhat 
similar to that of Figure 65, but with reinforced con¬ 
crete roof and wood-block floor. 

The steel trusses are spaced 16 feet on centers and 
these carry steel channel purlins supporting a “Hy- 
rib’’ reinforced concrete roof. All metal and glass 
turret ventilators are installed centrally in every 
third bay to assure proper ventilation. 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 275 


The roof covering is of the standard “Barrett Spe¬ 
cification” type with “Flex Lock” hashing. The 
crickets are formed of concrete, and drainage is 
through Holt connectors to inside cast-iron leaders. 

The “United” steel-sash windows are 12 feet wide 
by 14 feet high with large ventilating units in each 
sash. The brick walls are 12 inches thick with 



FIG. 66. CROSS-SECTION OP BRICK AND STEEL BUILDING 

-60 FEET WIDE 

16 x 48-inch pilasters at the truss centers. In this 
case the pilasters are on the exterior and are finished 
with a receding concrete cap to bring them flush with 
the 12-inch parapet wall. The sash are of steel camber- 
liead type with self-supporting brick arches. 

Brick With Steel Columns.—Figure 67 illustrates 
a form of construction very frequently used and 
somewhat cheaper than trusses for this type of build¬ 
ing. While this in some ways is not as good, from 
the standpoint of fire protection, as the slow-burning 
type of construction, it is, nevertheless, quite satis¬ 
factory when the building is equipped with auto- 



































276 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


matic sprinklers and where the operations are not at 
all hazardous. In this instance there are two rows of 
steel columns 20 feet on centers, and these carry an 
18-inch steel girder which in turn supports the 12- 
inch steel roof beams 10 feet on centers; these on their 
outer ends are carried by a 12-inch brick wall which 



FIG. 67. CROSS-SECTION OF BRICK BUILDING WITH STEEL COLUMNS 

is continuous on all sides of the building. Bevelled 
spiking strips, six inches wide, are bolted to these 
beams to give the necessary roof pitch and afford 
the base for securing the roof plank which in this 
case is 3V£-inch tongued and grooved plank. 

The roof covering is of felt and pitch gravel, of 
standard specifications, and the drainage crickets are 
formed of 1%-inch plank. 

The steel window sash are 8 feet wide and 12 feet 
high, with cambered heads; they are set with brick 
arches and concrete sills. 

The floor is of concrete; a 5-incli base with one inch 
standard top finish, cast monolithic therewith. 

Brick, Timber Columns and Beams.—A better de¬ 
sign of the column and beam type of construction is 
shown in Figure 68 which illustrates the approved 
























GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 277 

type of a “slow-burning” mill-construction roof. This 
building is sixty feet wide with concrete foundations, 
brick walls, and steel window sash. There are two 



rows of long-leaf yellow pine, timber columns spaced 
on twenty-foot centers each way, and these support 
8 x 16-inch cross girders which in turn carry 4 x 12- 
inch roof beams spaced 6 feet 8 inches on centers, 
upon which the roof deck of 2%-inch tongued and 
grooved plank is placed. 

The roof is pitched lengthwise of the building, with 
drainage from centrally placed interior leaders. This 
scheme of running the girders crosswise and beams 
lengthwise was used in order to have the wall pilas¬ 
ters and wall construction conform to the main two- 
story building of which this was an addition. For 
this reason the concrete foundation walls were 
brought to the underside of the windows and the sill 
cast integral therewith. The brick wall above the 
steel sash, which was 13 feet wide by 10^4 feet high, 
was carried on steel lintels with a brick soldier course 
between pilasters, the brick panel being corbelled out 
to carry the parapet wall which was flush with the 
face of the pilaster and finished with tile coping. 












































278 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 69. CROSS-SECTION OF A LI/-CONCRETE BUILDING 


All columns -were set in cast-iron post bases project¬ 
ing slightly above the top of the finished floor to pro¬ 
tect them from dampness. Van Dorn malleable-iron 
four-way post caps were used to support the timber 
girders and beams having juncture at the columns, 
while the double hangers were used to support the 
intermediate beams from the girders. The ends of 
the cross girders were set in the wall in malleable- 
iron and steel wall boxes. 

The roof was covered with a five-ply “Barrett Spe¬ 
cification’ J tar and gravel roofing. The floor was of 
concrete, with a 5-inch base and one inch top finish, 
cast monolithic, carried on a 12-inch cinder sub-base. 

All-Concrete Construction.—For certain classes of 
general manufacture, where all or practically all of 
the machines are individual motor driven, or where 
most of the work is bench and hand operation, the 
reinforced concrete building of the flat-slab roof de¬ 
sign offers a type a exceptional value. Such a de¬ 
sign is illustrated in Figure 69. In this type of con¬ 
struction the foundation walls, the columns and the 
roof are all cast integral, and the side walls may 
be curtain walls of tile, brick, or concrete. In this 




























GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 279 


instance the curtain walls are of brick, which was 
selected largely for the exterior effect of color. 

The panels are all twenty feet in both direction, 
and the steel sash extend from column to column and 
from within three feet of the floor to the underside 
of the roof-wall girder. The exterior concrete sur¬ 
faces are natural finish, being rubbed down upon 
completion by water and a carborundum float. 

The roof pitch is towards the side walls, and the 
slope is obtained by the use of cinder concrete, a 
method adopted instead of sloping the roof slab 
proper in order to provide a perfectly level ceiling. 
The roof is covered with five-ply tar and gravel 
44 Barrett Specification” roofing with 44 Flex Lock” 
flashing and Holt connectors discharging into inside 
cast-iron leaders. 

The floor is Johns-Manville l^-inch “asphalt 
mastic,” applied to a 6-inch concrete base laid upon 
a 10-inch cinder fill. 

Saw-Tooth Roof Buildings.—For the purposes of 
general manufacture, where the buildings must cover 
a considerable space the 44 saw-tooth roof” type is 
the most advantageous when an unbroken floor area 
is desired. This type should be used in most in¬ 
stances where a width of building greater than fifty 
feet is required rather than any of those types just 
discussed, because it affords the best possible dif¬ 
fusion of a strong natural light throughout the entire 
area of the building. 

Saw-tooth roofs are constructed in a variety of 
types and of all-timber, or steel and timber, or steel 
and concrete, or of all-concrete. The standard forms 


280 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


of those buildings are very simple in design, and 
several of the most used types are shown in Figures 
70 to 78. 

One of the most commonly used methods of con¬ 
struction is that shown in cross section in Figure 
70 and an interior view of such a building is shown 
in Figure 71. This consists of the “Lally’’ steel-con- 




FIG. 70. CROSS-SECTION OF SAW-TOOTH ROOF CONSTRUCTION 

Crete columns with cast-iron base and cap support¬ 
ing two 12-inch I-beams, the columns being spaced 
20 feet on centers longitudinally and the bays being 
25 feet wide. The timber trusses are spaced 10 feet 
on centers, one at each column, with the intermediate 
trusses carried on the beams, the adjacent trusses 
of each being through bolted to each other. 

The 3%-inch tongued and grooved roof plank are 
spiked directly to the trusses, with joints broken 
every third plank at alternate trusses. The roof is 
covered with five-ply Barrett specification pitch and 
slag roofing applied to meet the requirements of the 
steep slope of this type of roof. The drainage 
crickets are built up of 1%-inch plank to drain to 
inside leaders running down along the columns every 
one hundred feet and leading to a system of cast- 
iron drains below the floor. The flashing is carried 











GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 281 



FIG. 71. INTERIOR VIEW OF A FACTORY WITH SAW-TOOTH ROOF 

up to the underside of the framed sills of the light¬ 
ing panels. 

In this instance the saw-tooth sash or lighting 
panels are all metal framed—“Hayes patent’ 1 —and 
designed to prevent the drip of any moisture or con¬ 
densation that may collect on the interior. The sash 
are fixed, with the exception of two center panels in 
each bay which are center-hung ventilating units. All 
panels are glazed with 14 -inch factory-ribbed wire 
glass. 

A similar type of design, but with structural steel 
columns and steel trusses, is shown in Phgure 72. In 
this instance the columns, which are twenty feet on 
centers longitudinally, are connected with panelled 












282 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 72. SAW-TOOTH ROOF WITH COLUMNS AND TRUSSES 


trusses which support the intermediate saw-tootli 
trusses, all of which are on eight or ten-foot centers 
as may be desired. Spiking strips are bolted to the 
trusses and the 3-inch or 3V2-inch roof plank, as the 
case may be, are spiked directly thereto. 

Figure 73 illustrates the spacing of such trusses on 



FIG. 73. INTERIOR, SHOWING SPACING OF SAW-TOOTH TRUSSES 



































































GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 


283 



FIG. 74. CONCRETE AND STEEL SAW-TOOTH ROOF WITH 

VENTILATING SASH 


twenty-foot centers, and the use of timber purlins 
and plank. In this design the sash are steel framed, 
and of the top-hung continuous-ventilating type. 



FIG. 75. FIRE-RESISTANT ALL-CONCRETE SAW-TOOTH ROOF 
































284 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 76. CROSS-SECTION OF ALLrCONCRETE SAW-TOOTH ROOF 


Figure 74 shows another type of steel truss con¬ 
struction, with the trusses spaced on twenty-foot 
centers, and the use of channel purlins with a “Hy- 
Rib” reinforced concrete roof and continuous-venti¬ 
lating center-hung steel sash. 

A better type of construction for the saw-tooth 
roof building, which is the neatest and most sub¬ 
stantial as well as the most fire-resistant, is that 
shown in Figure 75, illustrating the design of the all¬ 
concrete type. This sectional view is self explana¬ 
tory, and for certain classes of industry such a build¬ 
ing is the best type of design and construction. 

Latest Type of Saw-Tooth.—The most notable ex¬ 
ample of improvement in the design and construc¬ 
tion of the “saw-tooth” type of building is that re¬ 
cently developed by Messrs. Schenck and Williams, 
engineers for the Domestic Engineering Company’s 
new plant at Dayton, Ohio; and this exceeds in ex¬ 
cellence of design and construction all other examples 
of this type of structure. 

This building which is of reinforced concrete con¬ 
struction faced with brick, is designed for an ultimate 
width of 870 feet and a length of 1,200 feet, with 
approximately one and three quarter million square 
feet, or forty acres, of floor space under one roof. 
A partial typical cross section of this building, illus¬ 
trating both its design and the scheme of lighting and 




























GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 285 



. a-.r 






SfiPrjs 

mWf? 


FIGS. 77 AND 78. LIGHT DISTRIBUTION WITH SAW-TOOTH ROOFS 

ventilation, the latter emphasized in diagrammatic 
form, is shown in Figure 76. 

The construction is of the reinforced concrete skele- 




































286 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ton typo, with trusses and flat-slab roof decks east 
integral therewith. The floor, which is approximately 
three feet above yard grade, is of the flat-slab typo 
of reinforced concrete carried on concrete columns. 
The spacing of all roof columns is on twenty and 
thirty-foot centers, the shorter distance being longi¬ 
tudinally of the building. 

The outer wall columns are faced with brick, and 
“Lupton” steel window sash extends over the entire 
intervening areas. The roof construction is really a 
series of double-opposed saw-teeth of the “Pond 
truss” design, admitting light and discharging air, 
while between each double bay and in the low points 
of the roof are two continuous lines of Pond “A- 
frames,” admitting both light and air. The open¬ 
ings so provided are of equal inlet and outlet area, 
and both are enclosed and protected by Pond weather¬ 
proof, top-hung steel sash, continuous in lines of four 
hundred feet, each line being controlled by an inde¬ 
pendently connected motor-operating device. 

Two interior views of this building are shown in 
Figures 77 and 78. The former is taken looking 
lengthwise down the building and represents a typi¬ 
cal cross-sectional view; while the latter looks across 
the building, giving a longitudinal view. Both illus¬ 
trations indicate very clearly the noteworthy distribu¬ 
tion of light, its uniformity and intensity. 

Machine Shop or General Manufacturing Type.— 
This subdivision of factory buildings, as here con¬ 
sidered, includes the so-called machine shop or moni¬ 
tor type which is so largely used for ordinary ma¬ 
chine-shop work and for the heavier classes of gen- 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 287 



FIG. 79. BRICK AND TIMBER SHOP WITH MONITOR ROOF 


eral manufacture which require buildings of greater 
width and height than the so-called “ general manu¬ 
facturing type.” These buildings are of many vary¬ 
ing designs and employ a variety of materials in 
their construction. 

Two types of such buildings are shown in Figures 
79 and 80. The former, 90 feet in width, is of brick 
and timber construction; and the latter, 110 feet wide, 
of brick and steel. Both of these types have been 
made more or less obsolete, however, by the recently 
developed methods of design and construction which 
provide especially for better monitor roof lighting 
and ventilation and effect a general improvement 
throughout the structure. 



'Purlins $ to 10 ft on ffcn trea 


'with tLorvUtfhljr mopped tarred felt under plank 




Ho. Tioof TUn* 


>ornn» * to la ft <n, 


FIG. 80. BRICK AND STEEL SHOP WITH MONITOR ROOF 




























































































































288 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


If, however, brick and timber construction is to be 
employed, the design shown in Figure 79 may be 
used, but, preferably, with top-hung continuous-venti¬ 
lating steel sash with large glass sections and some 
means of additional ventilation at the peak of the 
roof. The main side walls should be carried up by a 
parapet, capped with some such coping as vitrified 
tile or concrete. Overhanging roofs, even if of fire- 
resistant materials, are not to be recommended; they 
necessitate sheet-metal gutters and outside leaders 
which are always a source of annoyance and expense. 
In the case of overhanging plank roofs, they present 
a great fire risk and means for the rapid spread of 
fire, particularly if closely connected with or sur¬ 
rounded by other buildings. 

If the type of brick and steel construction shown 
in Figure 80 is to be used, the monitor sash should 
be of the kind just suggested; and instead of the 
timber and plank roof, which in this case is some¬ 
what protected at the main eaves, steel purlins and a 
reinforced concrete roof, such as “Hy-Rib” or a 
lighter construction of the fireproof type such as 
“Metropolitan” gypsum, should be used. 

Improved Monitor Design.— A suggested form for 
a better design of this type of building is illustrated 
in Figure 81. In this case the building is 100 feet 
wide with two 30-foot side bents and a 40-foot cen¬ 
tral bay. The concrete foundation walls are brought 
up to the underside of the window sills, and the 
brick walls of 12-inch thickness throughout are then 
continued up, ending in a concrete capped paparet. 
The steel columns and truss bents are spaced twenty 


GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 289 


feet on centers, longitudinally, while the side hay 
roof beams are spaced every ten feet on centers. The 
intermediate beams are carried on the inner end by 
the properly stiffened crane girder, which also serves 
as a strong longitudinal tie for the structure, and are 



v/ 





< 

► 

Ml- 

-j r 

l! 

I * 

! li 

I 

i 

1 

1 

HM*** nn 

i 

1 " 






— ~ 



FIG. 81. IMPROVED MONITOR DESIGN FOR MACHINE SHOP 


supported on the outer end by the steel lintels over 
the 16-foot wide flat-head steel window sash. 

The monitor sash consists of two lines of top-hung 
4 ‘Pond’’ continuous steel sash, with protecting storm 
panels at the ends of each run; the sash being glazed 
with ^-inch factory-ribbed wire glass. The advan¬ 
tage of this type of monitor, in the way of added 
light, better ventilation and ease in operating the 
sash, are clearly seen; the sash are operated in two 
continuous runs on each side of the monitor by the 
Pond operating mechanism controlled from the floor. 

The roof deck of this building is “Metropolitan” 
gypsum slab covered with a standard specification 
felt and pitch-gravel roofing. The side bays are 
flashed with felt and metal, and 44 Holt” connectors, 
placed in the valleys at the parapets, discharge into 
inside leaders supported on the side walls. The moni¬ 
tor roof deck and covering is of the same material, 
































290 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


but it is supported by steel purlins with free drain¬ 
age to the side bay roofs. 

The Modern Type.—One good form of the more 
modern type of building for the general run of ma¬ 
chine shop work as well as for that of the heavier 
classes of general manufacture, is indicated in Figure 
82. This cross sectional view is largely self-explana¬ 
tory. It shows two flat-roofed side bays, each 25 feet 



FIG. 82. MODERN TYPE OF MACHINE SHOP 


wide, and two central bays, each 30 feet wide; the 
latter being really one main bay of the double-op- 
posed saw-tooth type with a row of central columns. 

The walls of this building are of brick on concrete 
foundations, and the steel columns and trusses and 
beams are on 20-foot centers longitudinally, the side- 
bay I-beams being carried on 16 x 36-inch pilasters 
with 12-inch intermediate wall with camber-head steel 
sash and brick arches. All the columns are tied to¬ 
gether longitudinally, and purlins are used to support 
a gypsum roof deck. 

A 5-ton travelling crane is installed in one-half 
of the central bay, and an I-beam trolley travelling 
hoist in the other. 

The saw-teeth of the roof are each enclosed by a 

































GENERAL DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS 291 


continuous run of top-hung steel sash, each operated 
by independent mechanisms from the floor. It is very 
evident that this form of building is superior to the 
older types because of better ventilation and a more 
uniform distribution of natural light, and also be¬ 
cause the central bays of the older types were so 
often built up much higher than was really neces- 





K--- WO" -*1 


FIG. 83. OLD-STYLE MACHINE AND ERECTING SHOP 

sary for the work for which they were intended. It 
is a very substantial type when properly constructed, 
which can be done at no greater cost than that of 
the less satisfactory older designs. 

Heavy Machine and Erecting Shops.—These build¬ 
ings are for the most part built with self-supporting 
steel frames. For years the general method was to 
enclose the entire structure with brick walls, pro¬ 
viding what then appeared to be a reasonable wall 
glass area for interior lighting. The favorite form 
was that shown in Figure 83, with the machine shop 
adjoining the high-bay erecting floor. 

Various experiments were made from time to time 
with different forms of such buildings, but no one of 
these types met all the several and varied demands 
of this class of work with complete satisfaction. A 
great improvement was effected by the introduc- 














































292 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 84. MODERN ERECTING, HEAVY MACHINE AND LIGHT 

MACHINE SHOP 


tion of tlie steel window sash and expanded-metal 
concrete, which made it possible to cover the build¬ 
ings with enormous areas of glass and so provide 
much better facilities in the way of lighting and 
ventilation. 

Eventually this development led to a modified 
design of this type of building, and the high erect¬ 
ing bay with central monitor and only one side 
wing was found to afford much better working con¬ 
ditions in both light and ventilation. One of the best 
examples of this design are the shops of the Con¬ 
solidated Press Company, illustrated in cross-sectional 
view in Figure 84. Here the high erecting shop is 
adjoined by a lower heavy-machine shop wing, and 
this in turn by a still lower shop for the lighter 
machine work. The construction follows the self-sup¬ 
porting steel-frame design, with exterior side walls of 
the all-glass type, with “Lupton” continuous top- 
hung sash throughout. This arrangement and con¬ 
struction provides excellent natural lighting with a 
generally uniform distribution over all the floor areas. 

Where the nature of the work requires an erect- 













































GENERAL design OF TIIE BUILDINGS 293 



WITH GALLERIES 


ing shop with two side bays—that is, with a ma¬ 
chine shop each side of the erecting shop—it is 
my opinion that the best form should generally 
follow that of the latest improved type of foundry 
and forge-shop design. Such a building for a ma¬ 
chine shop requiring a great machine floor space in 
relation to the erecting floor area, is shown in Figure 
85; this has the side galleries in each machine side 
bay. 

The design is of the self-supporting steel-frame type 
with “Pond” central-bay trusses. All side walls, 
both of the trusses and main building, are protected 
by “Lupton” continuous top-hung steel sash. 
The building rests on concrete foundations, and the 
base walls of the building are brick. In the case of 
the side gallery shops, the intermediate belt course 
is of expanded-metal concrete, five feet in depth. 

The great advantages of this form and type of 
building are in the adequate and uniform natural 
lighting and in the ventilation throughout every 
part of the shops. 






































CHAPTER IX 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 

Foundries and Forge Shops.—Buildings for foun¬ 
dries and forge shops have long been designated as 
“steel mill buildings,” and for years this designa¬ 
tion has brought to mind a picture of enormous cor¬ 
rugated-iron covered, steel-framed buildings of for¬ 
bidding exterior and uncomfortable interior; a place 
where men worked in a fog of steam and smoke and 
where, in spite of a fair extent of window area, a 
hot, murky and smoke-choking atmosphere always 
prevailed, excepting during the winter months when 
in certain sections of the building the “unendurable 
heat” became almost an “unbearable cold” without* 
any lifting of the denseness of the atmosphere. 

The main trouble was with the traditional type of 
foundry building. This was designed on the old 
theory “that the building as.a whole was to be re¬ 
garded as a chimney; and, like a chimney, was ex¬ 
pected to ventilate in a uniform mass, through the 
difference in density between the inside and outside 
air”. To move this air the roof was made as high 
as practicable for chimney effect, and rose, usually, 
at a sharp angle to a small central monitor. 

Today the modern foundry and forge shop is on a 
par with our best factory buildings, both in exterior 

294 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 295 


appearance and interior conditions. This has been 
brought about by a radical change in the form and 
design of these buildings, and this was made possible 
by the development of the “Pond” truss and the con¬ 
tinuous top-hung type of steel sash, both of which 
have been applied to small and large plants with 
equal success. 

Development of Modern Type.—The history of the 
development of the “Pond” type of foundries and 
forge shops began with the production of the con¬ 
tinuous top-hung steel sash which was designed to 
give weather-proof ventilation with easy control in 
roof openings; and this was applied to the monitors 
of several foundries in the hopes that it would effect 
materially better ventilating results. These applica¬ 
tions of this sash in large units did work towards 
better conditions, but not to the extent expected. It 
did, however, lead those interested to make a tho¬ 
rough study of the air movements in these factories, 
and the conclusions led to experiments that convinced 
them that not only was a greater ventilating area re¬ 
quired but that the efficient ventilation of such build¬ 
ings demanded a radically new form of roof based on 
a wholly different theory of ventilation. 

Their statement in this regard is exteremely inter¬ 
esting as well as instructive, and is to the effect: In 
our view the whole chimney theory was wrong. A 
chimney contains a homogeneous column of hot gas, 
whose height is 10 to 15 times its diameter; a foundry, 
on the contrary, is wider than its height. Further, 
the air in the foundry is not naturally homogeneous, 
but contains many scattered heat streams from cupo- 


296 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


las, furnaces, molds, etc., and it can only be made 
homogeneous if it is retarded and forced to com¬ 
mingle by insufficient ventilating openings. But why 
retard the air in order to get rid of it? Why be 
obliged to raise the temperature of an entire build¬ 
ing 20 degrees or so in July in order to push the air 
through the monitor fast enough? If one imagines 
the molds to be out-doors, it is evident that each in¬ 
dividual streak of smoke or heat will ascend through 
the cooler air around it, exactly as the smoke from a 
bonfire ascends. The more freely these streams 
ascend—the less they are retarded and diffused—the 
less they will warm the surrounding air. And, of 
course, the less they are diffused the faster they will 
rise. 

The real solution, they reasoned, of the ventilation 
problem was to give these clouds of smoke and vapor 
the freest possible exit by the shortest possible route. 
In a word, they sought a type of building which 
should perform its positive functions—admitting air 
and light—as effectively as it performed the merely 
negative functions of excluding weather, cold, and 
direct sun rays, and, seeking for the application of 
these principles, they found the old-style monitor 
faulty in several ways: 

1. The conventional monitor affords too small an outlet for 

free discharge of the individual heat streams; 

2. The old-style narrow monitor compels most of the heat 

streams to travel so far from their source that they 

diffuse and lose velocity; 

3. The roof is too high, hence diffusion is increased; 

4. Regardless of the width of the monitor, the conventional 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 297 


sash area is too small to afford sufficient outlet for the 
heat streams. The defective lighting of the ordinary 
foundry and forge shop is likewise due to this same 
fault in design; 

5. Center-pivoted monitor sash—whether wood or any type 

of steel—allow rain or snow to blow over them, and 
cross winds to enter, chilling the warm monitor and 
causing down drafts. Consequently such sash needs 
much opening and closing, and has no ventilating value 
except under the most favorable conditions; 

6. The inlets are usually too small or too high above the 

floor for air to enter freely, especially in summer. Since 
the movement of clear air is visible, it is much too 
easily disregarded or taken for granted. 

To overcome these faults they originated the “Pond 
truss” and the Pond type of building; the theory of 
which as contrasted with that of the old style foundry 
is indicated in diagrammatic form in Figures 86 and 
87. Instead of the ordinary small monitor, with its 
peaked roof pocketing the stale gases and allowing 
them to chill, there is a wide inverted roof, and all 
the roof slopes lead the gases directly to the outlets. 
These outlets are several times as large as in the old- 
style monitor, and are located in the best position for 
the average* heat streams. Thus the streams rise and 
escape with practically the same freedom as outdoors, 
and the lower air is never needlessly warmed. The 
outlets are protected by weather-proof lines of con¬ 
tinuous sash, all or part of which may be opened as 
needed. 

The building is just high enough to accommodate the 
cranes and to get the necessary outlet area and in- 


298 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIGS. 86 AND 87. CONTRASTING VENTILATION OF OLD-STYLE 
(above) and modern (below) foundry buildings 


verted roof slope. The heat streams have the short¬ 
est practicable path to travel, and rise well above the 
breathing level before diffusion begins. The lower 
air is always clear when the sash are open. 

For the best ventilation the inlet areas should equal 
the outlet areas, and nothing must be allowed to ob¬ 
struct the free movement of entering air. In order 
to get fresh air to the floor level in summer, the in- 





















FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 299 



lets in the side walls should he low, even if this 
limits the use of the floor next to the Avail for storage. 

Illustration of Modern Type.—Typical illustrations 
of the modern foundry and forge shop are shown in 
Figures 88 to 91. The sectional view in Figure 88 
represents a typical cross section of the Consolidated 
Press Company’s foundry; the \ T ieAv heloAV shows the 
exterior design of these buildings with their very 
simple but practical treatment. Figure 90 is a 
typical interior of the foundry. 

Figure 91 illustrates a plant of the General Elec¬ 
tric Company and shows a typical cross section and 
exterior view of their malleable-iron foundry at Erie, 
Pa. The plant is 423 feet wide and 800 feet long. 



FIG. 89. EXTERIOR OF MODERN FOliGE AND FOUNDRY 



















































THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


300 



FIG. 90. INTERIOR OF MODERN FORGE AND FOUNDRY SHOWING 
EXCELLENT LIGHTING AND ABSENCE OF FUMES 


This and the previous illustration shows clearly the 
advantages of this type of construction, and prove 
also that it is possible to design even a foundry with 
an attractive appearance. Assuredly the engineers 
have handled the exterior treatments of these build¬ 
ing? in a very practical and inexpensive way, but 
with true skill both in the general design and in the 
architect]; r al details. 

Application to Small Foundry.—Figure 92 illus¬ 
trates the application of this form of design, modified 
in construction details, to the small foundry building 
for which it has proven a very great success. This 
building is 80 feet wide and 140 feet long and was 
laid out for a later addition of a duplicate unit, mak¬ 
ing the total length 280 feet; for this reason the 














FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 301 




FIG. 91. EXTERIOR AND CROSS-SECTION OF GENERALrELECTRIC 

FOUNDRY AT ERIE, PA. 


cupola was located in the westerly end of the first 
section, so that with the extended plant it would be 
approximately central of the building. 

The general design and construction details of this 
foundry are quite clearly set forth in the cross sec¬ 
tion and half-longitudinal section and elevation pre¬ 
sented, but it may be noted that the central or crane¬ 
way bay is 30 feet wide with two 25-foot side bays; 
the interior columns are 20 feet on centers longitudi¬ 
nally, and a 24-inch I-beam at each bent supports the 
center channels into which the beams of the opposed 
saw teeth are framed. The side-bay roof beams are 
framed into the 15-incli side channels, which are sup¬ 
ported by the columns,, and at their outer edge are 
carried by the brick walls and steel lintels over the 
window openings, 15 feet wide and 13 feet high. 







































302 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 92. SECTIONS AND ELEVATION OF A SMALL FOUNDRY 


The roof deck is formed of “Pyrobar” gypsum 
blocks carried by tee purlins and slightly overhangs 
the building at the eaves. It is covered with Jolins- 
Manville “Ajax” roofing with asphalt-finished top 
coat. There are no side roof gutters or leaders other 
than protecting drips over the doorways. Drainage 
from the inverted saw teeth is collected in the center 
gutter and is carried off by interior cast-iron leaders 
following down the columns to an underground drain. 

This form of building and type of construction has 
proven its worth in every particular. The lighting 
and ventilation are ideal, notwithstanding the ex¬ 
tremely low heights of both the side wings and the 
central bay which are only 21 feet at the side wall 
eaves, 27% feet at the center of the building and 35 
feet at the maximum point of the saw teeth. 

There is absolutely no stagnation of smoke or 



































































































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 303 



FIG. 93. SMALL FOUNDRY WITH WHITE INTERIOR 

gasses over the ■moulding floor even in the coldest 
weather when but one line of the saw-teeth sash may 
be open ever so slightly, and no difficulty is experi¬ 
enced in maintaining a most comfortable working 
temperature throughout the coldest weather though so 
large a wall and roof glass area is used; this latter 
is due in large part, no doubt, to the type of roof deck 
employed and to the system of heating used, par¬ 
ticularly as to the disposition of the radiator units. 

An interior view of this foundry, which illustrates 
very clearly the form and construction employed, is 
shown in Figure 93. This indicates to some extent 
the disposition of the heating units and what is per- 































304 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Imps more interesting, the fact that the entire in¬ 
terior of this building was painted white. The De¬ 
troit Graphite Company’s “Sta-White” was used for 
this work, two coats being applied, the second coat 
having a gloss finish; after three years continued 
service, the interior of this Foundry remains white, 
and this is some indication of the positive ventilating 
action secured in this form and design of building. 

Multi-Story Factory Buildings.—The mapority of 
our industries are housed wholly or in part in factory 
buildings of the multi-storied type, ranging from two 
to occasionally as much as twelve stories in height. 
Where the materials of manufacture are not unduly 
heavy or too bulky to prevent their ready mechanical 
transfer from floor to floor, and where the machinery 
used in their manufacture is not of excessive weight, 
the factory building of two or more stories, as the 
case may be, offers in many instances, advantages not 
to be obtained with the one-story plant. 

These advantages are the more pronounced where 
articles are of such light manufacture as, for ex¬ 
ample, shoes, hats, clothing, fountain pens, pocket 
knives, small household motors and other utensils, 
metal, fibre and leather specialties, and other simi¬ 
larly small products produced in large bulk. Espe¬ 
cially is this true in the many instances of these 
plants located in the larger manufacturing centers. 

While this several-storied type of building has such 
distinct advantages as centralization of operations, 
and concentration of plant, and while it utilizes the 
plant site to its fullest possibilities and is economical 
in cost of construction, it nevertheless presents prob- 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 305 


lems in design that must be handled skillfully and in 
the light of a full knowledge of the plant require¬ 
ments, the limitations imposed, and the possibilities 
offered by such a building if its advantages are to 
be made the most of and its disadvantages minimized. 

The multi-storied building does not permit of over¬ 
head lighting except on the top floor, consequently 
the width of the buildings, the clear height of the 
stories, and the extent and location of the windows 
determine the conditions of natural lighting. The 
necessary columns, unless properly designed and 
spaced, may awkwardly limit the arrangement of the 
machinery; and the floor, or floors, if not designed 
with “the facts in hand” may lack the necessary 
strength to support the machinery in its most desir¬ 
able location. It also offers problems in the matter 
of fire protection and the installation of stairways, 
elevators and other structural features not met with 
in the one-story factory building. 

Types of Construction.—Multi-storied factory build¬ 
ings have been built in many forms. Various heights 
and several radically different types of construction 
have been employed in their design. In selecting the 
type of construction for present day industrial plants 
the choice, according to the dictates of best practice, 
would be given to some one of the following four 
clearly defined classes of construction or, perhaps, to 
one or more combinations of these, depending upon 
the nature and extent of the plant and the require¬ 
ments of its several manufacturing processes and de¬ 
partments. These several types may be defined as 
(1) slow-burning mill construction; (2) brick and 


306 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


stool, non-fireproofod; (3) steol skeloton, fireproofed; 
and (4) reinforced concrete. 

It may be observed in regard to these several 
classes of construction that their comparative costs 
vary in different sections of the country. Generally 
speaking Class 2—brick and steel construction, non- 
fireproofed—is the cheapest; this is of the fire-re¬ 
tardent’ ’ type; but it is not “fire-resistant,” as the 
unprotected steel members in case of a fire lose their 
strength at a temperature but slightly in excess of 
1000°F. It is, however, an excellent and acceptable 
type of construction where the manufacturing pro¬ 
cesses and materials involve no undue fire hazards 
and with buildings equipped with automatic sprink¬ 
lers. 

“Slow-burning” mill construction, Class 1, in its 
best form of brick and heavy timber and plank design 
is not only “fire retardent” but is very strongly 
“fire-resistant” for a considerable length of time; and 
when such buildings are equipped with an automatic 
sprinkler service they are considered by the insurance 
companies as an almost equally good risk with the 
all-fireproofed reinforced concrete buildings. For 
many years this slow-burning type of construction 
was the standard for our best mills and these build¬ 
ings were often carried to a height of seven or eight 
stories. It was for a long time the best and cheapest 
type of construction that could be used for substantial 
buildings fairly safe from the risk of fire damage. 
Today the cost of such buildings is practically equal 
to that of the all-concrete type. 

Preceding the development of the all-concrete build- 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 307 


ing and in answer to the demand for a fireproof type 
of construction obviating some of the physical limi¬ 
tations restricting the design of the slow-burning 
type—such as the spacing of columns and timber and 
plank Moors,—the “skeleton-steel fireproofed” type of 
building was developed. This was used in two forms; 
with brick supporting walls and steel columns and 
beams covered with “fire-resistant” or fireproofing 
materials, and with a self-supporting skeleton-steel 
frame, all the structural work being enclosed and 
protected by brick, tile or concrete, and in both cases 
with concrete, or tile and concrete, floor slabs. 

This construction is today the most costly of all the 
types noted and is not largely used for the industrial 
plant, having been replaced by the all-concrete build¬ 
ing. It is, however, used many times in certain build¬ 
ings or sections of buildings in plants of the “brick 
and steel” type, where the operations of certain de¬ 
partments require such protection and where it is not 
desired to change the type of construction used gen¬ 
erally .throughout the other mill buildings. The great 
purpose of this really wonderful type of construction 
is in the modern “sky-scraper”. It has made this 
form of building possible and is the only type of con¬ 
struction which meets the requirements of the ex¬ 
tremely high building. 

The “reinforced concrete” type of construction, 
Class 4, is today the most satisfactory form of con¬ 
struction, in general, for factory buildings. There are, 
of course, numerous exceptions to this,—but these are 
very limited in the matter of multi-story buildings, 
This type of building, properly constructed, is prac- 


308 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tically fireproof,—at least as much so as any such 
structure may reasonably be made. It presents many 
advantages over all other forms of construction; it 
also presents some disadvantages, as discussed later. 

The cost of the reinforced-concrete factory building 
is in many instances no more than that of the properly 
constructed “slow-burning mill type”; in some sections 
of the country it is less. It may be ten to twenty 
per cent more costly than the brick and steel type, 
depending upon the section of the country in which 
it is built, upon the material markets, and upon local 
trades conditions. It is also ten to twenty per cent 
less costlv in construction than the skeleton-steel all- 

w 

fireproofed type. 

Slow-Burning Mill Construction.—So often there 
exists a misunderstanding of what real “slow-burn¬ 
ing mill construction” is and it is so frequently con¬ 
founded with the old time but now totally discredited 
type of “light mill construction”, with its so-called 
“joisted” floors (two thicknesses of 7 /g-mc\\ floor 
boards on something like 2 x 8-inch joists on 16-inch 
centers) and with its %-inch roof boards on 2 x 6-inch 
joists, that it may be pertinent to quote the very 
definite statement of the Insurance Engineering Divi¬ 
sion of the Boston Manufacturers Insurance Company 
as to what this type of mill construction really is and 
what it is not. The Deport on this type of construc¬ 
tion states: “The-purpose of slow-burning mill con¬ 
struction is to reduce the fire risk to its lowest point 
without going to the expense of fire-proof construc¬ 
tion”. It also says, in brief, such mill construction 
is:— 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 309 


Heavy Timbers. —Mill-construction consists in so disposing 
the timbers and planks in heavy, solid masses as to expose 
the least number of corners or ignitable projections to fire; 
and to the end also, that when fire occurs it may be most 
readily reached by water from sprinklers or hose. 

Fire-Stops .—It consists in separating every floor from every 
other floor by incombustible stops, by installing automatic¬ 
ally closing hatchways and by encasing stairways either in 
brick or other incombustible partitions, so that a fire will 
be retarded in passing from floor to floor to the utmost 
consistent with the use of wood or any material not abso¬ 
lutely fireproof. 

Fire-Retardants. —It consists in guarding the ceilings over all 
specially hazardous stock or processes with fire-retarding 
materials, such as plastering laid over wire lath or ex¬ 
panding metal, or over wooden dovetailed lath, following 
the lines of the ceilings and of the timbers and leaving 
no interspaces between the plastering and the wood; or 
else in protecting the ceilings over hazardous places with 
asbestos, air-cell boards, sheet metal, Sackett plaster board, 
or other fire-retardant. 

Fire-Safeguards .—It consists not only in so constructing the 
mill, workshop, or warehouse that fire will pass as slowly 
as possible from one part of the building to another, but 
also in providing all suitable safeguards against fire. 

What Mill Construction Is Not.—This report further 

says such mill construction is not: 

Concealed Spaces. —Mill-construction does not consist in so 
disposing a given quantity of materials that the whole in¬ 
terior of a building becomes a series of wooden cells, or 
concealed spaces, connected with each other directly or by 
cracks, through which fire may freely pass where it cannot 
be reached by water. 


310 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Size of Timbers and Fire-Stops.— It docs not consist of an 
open-timber construction of floors and roofs which re¬ 
sembles mill-construction, but which is built with light 
timber in insufficient size and w'ith thin planks, without 
fire-stops or fire-guards from floor to floor. 

Stairways. —It does not consist in connecting floor with floor 
by combustible wooden stairways encased in w T ood less than 
two inches thick. 

Partitions— It does not consist in putting in very numerous 
light w T ooden divisions or partitions. 

Sheathing and Furring.— It does not consist in sheathing 
brick w T alls w’ith w r ood; especially w’hen the wood is set off 
from the walls by furring, and even if there are stops be¬ 
hind the furring. 

Sprinkler, Pumps, Pipes and Hydrants. —It does not con¬ 
sist in leaving even the best-constructed building in wffiich 
dangerous occupations are followed without automatic 
sprinklers, and without a complete and adequate equipment 
of pumps, pipes and hydrants. 

Finishing in Wood and Other Materials. —It does not con¬ 
sist in using more wood in finishing a building after the 
floors and roof are laid than is absolutely necessary, since 
there are now many safe methods available at low cost for 
finishing w’alls and constructing partitions with slow-burn¬ 
ing or incombustible materials. 

Disadvantages of Slow-Burning Construction.— 

While the “slow burning” type of construction offers 
such great advantages over the old “light joisted” 
type that it is entirely replacing the latter for this form 
of factory building, it has, on the other hand, certain 
marked disadvantages as against the present-day fire- 
retardent brick and steel type and the fire resistent or 
fireproofed concrete type; these are primarily: 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 311 


The limited spacings of columns; factory operations fre¬ 
quently require wider column spacing than is possible with 
such construction, especially where floor loads are heavy; 

More vibration is likely to be incurred in a building having 
timber beams and floors than in those of the steel framed 
type, and especially so than in those with concrete floors or 
of all-concrete construction; 

Dry rot occasionally takes place in the timber posts, girders 
and floor planks of slow-burning buildings, and this danger 
has increased with the shortage of long leaf pine and the 
substitution of other woods; 

The height of the slow-burning type of building is limited; 
their economy diminishes and their disadvantages increase 
with height, so that to-day they are seldom erected of more 
than four stories; 

While “slow-burning’’ buildings under sprinkler protec¬ 
tion have made a most excellent “fire risk’ record, they are 
not of such an incombustible type of construction as the all¬ 
concrete building. 

Examples of “Standard’’ Type. —A cross-sectional 
view of the “standard type of slow-burning mill”, as 
recommended by the Boston Manufacturers Mutual 
Insurance Company, is shown in Figure 94. With 
such a design for 150 pounds live load, the columns 
of long leaf yellow pine would run from 12 x 12 inches 
to 8 x 8 inches, and would be placed on 10 x 16-foot 
centers; the floor girders would he 12x16 inches and 
the plank, 4-inch grooved and splined, spiked directly 
thereto with a maple top floor having two or three 
layers of heavy hard paper, mopped with hot tar, 
between the under and over floors; the roof girders 
would be 8x10 inches with 3-inch grooved and splined 
pine plank spiked thereto and then covered with a 


312 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 94. “standard” type of slow burning mill 


standard specification five-ply tar and gravel roofing. 

The first or ground floor should be built up of hot 
tar-concrete, on a concrete sub-base, over which is 
laid tarred felt well mopped with tar and then the 2- 
inch tongued and grooved planks are nailed thereto 
and covered with a maple top or other hard wood 
overfloor. 

All timber girders should rest on cast-iron plates 
or beam boxes in the wall and on cast-iron caps on 
the columns. The first floor columns should be set 
on cast-iron bases projecting above the finished floor, 
and all upper columns should be set on cast-iron pin- 
tels which may be cast in one piece with the cap or 
separately. 

All the brick bearing walls of the building should 
be of ample thickness to carry the loads placed there¬ 
on and to meet the local or state requirements. 

All stairways, elevators, and through floor belts 
should be located in brick towers or in sections of the 
building cut off from all rooms by incombustible 


































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 313 



FIG. 95. IMPROVED SLOW-BURNING CONSTRUCTION SHOWING 

COLUMN SPACING 


walls, and all such towers or shafts should extend 
at least three feet above the roof and should be 
covered with all-metal wired-glass skylights protected 
underneath by wire mesh screens. No overhanging 
cornices should be used, unless of incombustible ma¬ 
terials, and the main walls of the building should be 
carried up as parapets well above the roof timbers. 

Wide Column-Spacing Type. —An example of the 
wide-spaced column type of the slow-burning build¬ 
ing using heavy cross beams is shown in Figures 95 
and 96. This is a four-story and basement building 
with concrete foundations and brick walls, timber 
columns, girders and cross beams, heavy plank floors 
with maple top, steel window sash, outside stair 
tower with adjoining toilet rooms and elevator tower, 
fire-proofed doors and parapet walls,—in fact, a very 














































































314 


TI1E FACTORY BUILDINGS 




no. 96. CROSS-SECTION AND elevation of slow-burning mill 

acceptable and much better arranged type of the 
“ slow-burning mill construction” building than the 
‘‘standard’’ illustrated in Figure 94. 

Referring now to the general plan of this building, 
Figure 95, it is noted that the timber columns are 
spaced approximately on 14 x 1714-foot centers, and 
that the longitudinal timber girders support the 
heavy timber beams intermediate of the columns. 
The framing of the columns, girders and beams is 
shown in the cross-section view, Figure 96. 

The basement columns rest on ‘ 4 Duplex” cast-iron 
bases, so set that the bottom of the columns is raised 
above the concrete floor and protected from moisture. 
All other column connections are made with “Du¬ 
plex combination steel and malleable-iron four-way 
post caps which carry the longitudinal girders and 
cross beams intersecting at these points; the inter¬ 
mediate cross beams are supported from the girders 








































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 315 


by “Duplex” malleable-iron joist hangers. The wall 
ends of all girders and beams are supported by 
“Duplex” wall hangers. 

The heavy tongued and grooved plank floors, with 
slightly bevelled under edges to form a V-notch joist 
ceiling which adds much to its appearance, are spiked 
directly to the girders and beams; a layer of tarred 
felt is placed over this plank which is finished with 
a 1%-inch tongued and grooved narrow strip, diagon¬ 
ally laid, maple top floor. It was not considered 
necessary to place a water-proofed seal between the 
two floor layers nor to provide wall scuppers for the 
quick run-off of water from the sprinkler system in 
case it were called into service. 

The brick stair and elevator towers are practically 
fireproof in construction. All doors opening into the 
stairways and toilet rooms are of heavy “Kalamien” 
construction, and the elevator entrances are protected 
with rolling steel shutters provided with fusible-link 
automatically controlled closing devices. All tower 
sash are steel framed with factory ribbed wire glass. 
The stairways and stairway platforms are constructed 
of heavy plank stringers, and heavy risers and 
treads; the latter being protected with “Mason” 
safety treads. The underside of the stairs and plat¬ 
forms are covered with “Hy-Rib” expanded metal 
and cement plaster. The floors of all toilet rooms are 
finished with “Marbleoid” with sanitary coved bases. 

The roof beams are covered with 2%-inch tongued 
and grooved plank and this deck is covered with a 
“Barrett Specification—20-Year Guaranteed” five-ply 
pitch and gravel roofing. The walls of the building 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


316 



fig. 97. 


SECTION AND ELEVATION OF 


BRICK AND STEEL BUILDING 


are carried up to form a substantial parapet, and 
roof drainage is through “Holt” connectors to inside 
cast iron leaders. 

. An idea of the exterior treatment of this building 
may be had by reference to Figure 96 which shows 
the south elevation. The window sash are “ Fenes¬ 
tra' with steel cambered heads and two ventilating 
units in each sash; the sills are of concrete. A con¬ 
crete cornice is used between the third and fourth 
floors of the building and a similar but smaller belt 
course at the eaves, the parapet being finished with 
a concrete coping. This design of treatment was fol¬ 
lowed as being in good keeping with the older build¬ 
ings of the plant of which this was an extension. 

Brick and Steel Type.—Some time after the build¬ 
ing just discussed was constructed it became neces¬ 
sary to add a similar extension to one of the other 













































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 317 


main buildings of the plant, and this was built en¬ 
tirely of brick and steel with concrete floors, as shown 
in Figure 97. It is desired to maintain the same 
general exterior appearance in this building as in 
the previous extension, insofar as this might be done 
with the use of a clear span top floor and trussed 
roof, so the same column and beam spacings were 
maintained. 

The construction of this brick and steel building 
is clearly indicated in the cross-section and end eleva- 
tion as presented in outline form; but it may be 
noted that the stairways and platform of the stair 
tower w r ere of reinforced concrete instead of timber 
and plank, and this v 7 as also true of the toilet room 
floors. Wood purlins, 6x10 inches in size, were used 
to carry the plank roof deck, which with its covering 
is identical to that shown in Figure 96. 

It was not considered necessary that this be a fire- 
proofed building, because the operations and ma¬ 
terials used were not at all of a hazardous or inflam¬ 
mable nature, and furthermore the building w T as 
equipped with an automatic sprinkler system. 

Brick and Steel—Fire-Proofed.—If an entirely fire¬ 
proofed building of brick and steel had been desired 
in the foregoing extension, it would have meant 
simply the substitution of columns and beams for the 
trusses as a support to the roof deck, the use of a 
concrete roof, the fire-proofing of all the columns and 
beams, and the use of factory-ribbed wire glass in 
all the steel sash. This fire-proofing might have been 
done in any one of several ways, but perhaps the 
simplest for this particular building would have been 


318 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 98. GENERAL LAYOUT OF PLANT BUILDINGS, THE SENECA FALLS MANUFACTURING CO. 












































































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 319 


the use of self-centering reinforcement for the con¬ 
crete floors and metal lath for the beams, thereby 
doing away with all form work; the underside of the 
self-centering and the metal lath about the beams 
being cement plastered after the floors are poured. 
The steel columns would be wrapped with expanded 
metal, supported about three inches from all faces, 
the intervening space filled with concrete and the 
outer surface plastered with cement. 

There are a number of different systems and meth¬ 
ods employed in the fire-proofing of the structural 
steel frames of such buildings, including various 
methods of forming floor and roof slabs, but these all 
embody the principles used in the simple method just 
described, and need no further discussion here, par¬ 
ticularly as they are more or less detailed in a later 
discussion of the several types of floors and roofs 
used in the modern types of factory buildings. 

Brick and Steel Machine Shop. —An excellent ex¬ 
ample of the brick and steel frame type of construc¬ 
tion is that of the main machine shop of the modern 
plant of The Seneca Falls Manufacturing Company, 
builders of the “Star” lathes. The general layout 
of the machine shop and the other plant buildings is 
shown in the general plan, Figure 98. The form of 
construction employed is fully detailed in the “typical 
cross-section”, Figure 99; the appearance of this 
character of construction and some of its distinct ad¬ 
vantages—such as the economy of the panel sizes 
used in the matter of sprinkler installation and the 
means of suspending this and other piping from the 
ceiling, the ease with which the power and wiring 


320 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


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FIG. 99. CROSS-SECTION OF BRICK AND STEEL MACHINE SHOP 

mains may be run in and supported, and the facilities 
afforded for the placing of shafting where the main 
hearings are attached by I-beam clamps to the beams, 
as well as the facilities for overhead trolley hoists— 
is clearly illustrated in the interior views of this 
building. Figures 100 and 101. 

The possibilities of treating the exterior of a build¬ 
ing of this type of construction properly are many, 
and one form of such treatment, which embodied 
some of the owner’s ideas in this regard, is presented 
in the preliminary sketch in Figure 102, while a more 
or less correct general view of the plant is shown in . 
Figure 103. ^ 

While the construction details used throughout this 
building may be observed by reference to the illus¬ 
trated typical cross section, it may be briefly noted 
that the concrete foundation walls are carried up to 
the underside of the window sills, which are cast 
integral therewith, and at the pilasters these walls 
are capped with a concrete base upon which are built 
up the brick pilasters which support the outer ends 
































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 321 



FIGS. 100 AND 101. INTERIOR VIEWS OF A BRICK AND STEEL 

MACHINE SHOP 









































TIIK FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIG. 102. ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT OF A BRICK AND STEEL FRAME MANUFACTURING PLANT 





































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 323 



FIG. 103. GENERAL VIEW OF TWO-STORY MANUFACTURING PLANT 


or the column-connected steel cross-beams of the floor 
and roof. 

This building is approximately 60 feet wide with a 
frontage of 350 feet, and the steel columns are spaced 
approximately 20 feet on centers both ways; these 
support longitudinal steel girders and cross beams, 
the girders carrying the intermediate cross beams, 
which are spaced 6 feet 8 inches on centers. On their 
outer ends these intermediate beams are carried on 
steel beams which span the window openings, and 
they are carried, at each end, into the 12-inch thick 
brick panels adjoining the 16-inch thick pilasters. 

The roof framing, while not as heavy as that of 
the second floor, is of the same design, and the beams 
are placed level with bevelled spiking strips bolted 
thereto to obtain the necessary pitch and secure the 
plank roof deck. This construction was used so that 
if later necessary a third floor might be added 
without any change in these beams. 

The ground floor is of rough concrete on a hard 
gravel base, and this is covered with two inches of 











324 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tar-rock concrete, protected by tarred felt, to which 
3-inch tongued and grooved plank are spiked and 
covered with a 1%-incli diagonally-laid hard maple 
top. The second floor is of the laminated type of 
2 x 4-incli plank nailed to the spiking strips bolted 
to the floor beams, and through nailed every 18 
inches; the under edges of the plank are bevelled so 
as to give a Y-joint ceiling. Care was used when 
installing this floor to prevent the accumulation of 
dirt on its surface which would later sift through, 
and as laid it was immediately followed up with a 
covering of two thicknesses of tarred felt, mopped 
with hot tar, and left undisturbed insofar as possible 
until the laying of the maple top floor. 

The roof deck was of 3-inch tongued and grooved 
plank, and this was covered with a standard specifica¬ 
tion 5-ply “Barrett’’ roofing; drainage was by means 
of “Holt'’ connectors and inside cast-iron leaders. 
“Fenestra” steel sash were used throughout the 
building, and these were for the most part 14 feet 
8 inches wide by 10 feet high, with six ventilating 
units in each; all sash with double-thick clear glass. 

All stairways, elevators, and toilet rooms are in ex¬ 
terior towers of brick, steel, and concrete construc¬ 
tion; all sash being glazed with factory-ribbed wire 
glass. The two-storv main toilet-room tower is 30 
feet wide by 50 feet long, and this separates the 
machine shop and foundry buildings but affords, on 
the lower floor, direct communication between these 
departments; and it is also so divided on this lower 
floor as to provide for a 12-foot driveway, the door 
openings being equipped with rolling steel shutters. 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 325 


Reinforced Concrete Construction.—The term “rein¬ 
forced concrete’’ lias been defined as “an approved 
concrete mixture reinforced by steel, of any shape, so 
that the steel will take up all the tensional stresses 
and assist hi the resistance to compression or shear.” 

The reinforced concrete building differs from the 
brick, timber, and steel constructed building in that 
the structural parts are all fabricated in the field,— 
that is, at the site of the plant or building. The 
building operations consist in “the usual preparation 
of the site by excavation or otherwise; the provision 
of suitable foundations for walls, columns or other 
supports; the erection of a series of wooden molds 
or forms; the placing of the necessary steel reinforce¬ 
ment; the mixing and pouring of the concrete; the 
removal of the forms after the concrete has set suf¬ 
ficiently to sustain the load that may come on it 

* 

during construction,” and then follows its finish¬ 
ing treatment—“rubbing down”—and the installa¬ 
tion of doors, windows, roof covering, leaders, sprink¬ 
lers, plumbing, and all other equipments required to 
complete the building ready for occupancy. 

The construction of such a building, however, re¬ 
quires more than the erection of a certain amount of 
rough carpentry, the placing of just so much rein¬ 
forcing steel, the mixing of so much cement, sand, 
stone or gravel, and finally the depositing of this in 
the wooden forms. Such a building requires, in the 
first place, skill and technique in design, particularly 
as to the amount and distribution of the required 
reinforcing steel and the proper materials and their 
proportionment for the concrete to be used; it re- 



326 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


quires in the second place no less skill in the prepara¬ 
tion and placing of all these materials; and the con¬ 
struction of any such building, if the stability and 
permanence of the structure is to be assured, demands 
the operation of experts and the services of a con¬ 
struction organization trained and skilled in this par¬ 
ticular line of work and their constant, intelligent 
and faithful supervision and direction in its every 
detail, from start to finish. 

Its Advantages and Disadvantages.—This type of 
construction for the factory building offers, in gen¬ 
eral, many advantages over all other forms of sucli 
buildings. It also presents some disadvantages, and 
both of these may be briefly noted: 

Reinforced concrete buildings are permanent and durable; 
they are monolithic in construction, with the solidity of stone 
and grow harder with age; floors may, after a few years, 
sustain loads much greater than they were originally de¬ 
signed for. 

They are entirely fire-resistant and as nearly fireproof as 
factory buildings can be made, and when sub-divided by fire¬ 
proofed partitions and doors and fitted with wire-glass win¬ 
dows any fire may be locally confined and its spread to other • 
rooms or other floors prevented. 

The floors and walls of such buildings are entirely sanitary 
and vermin-proof and may be washed down with hose and 
water; the floors being readily made entirely waterproofed 
if desired. 

The rough concrete sub-floor furnishes an excellent base 
for the placing of any one of many satisfactory top or wear¬ 
ing floors; this may be a hard concrete, almost dustless, 
finish or a mastic surfacing of asphaltic or other base that 
is quiet, dustless, sanitary, waterproof and extremely resil- 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 327 


icnt, or it may be plank with a maple or other hard wood 
• overfloor. 

Such buildings are economical in first cost, as local labor 
and materials may be used, and when the operations are 
handled by skilled organizations they are very easily and 
quickly erected. These buildings may often be used without 
a sprinkler system—though this is not to be recommended at 
all generally. The maintenance cost of such buildings is ex¬ 
tremely low. 

Such buildings make possible a larger amount of wall win¬ 
dow lighting than many other types of construction, yet it 
has a low heating cost, as the buildings tend to the main¬ 
tenance of a more even inside temperature. 

For certain industries the solidity of the concrete building 
with its freedom from vibrations makes it at once the most 
practical and serviceable type where heavy and fast moving 
machinery is largely used. The effect of such vibrations is 
felt very much less in the concrete building than in those of 
other types of construction. 

Changes and alterations are difficult to make in reinforced 
concrete buildings, and machinery, shafting, and pipes are 
not easily attached to the floors and ceilings; for this reason 
brick walls should be used where extensions are anticipated, 
and the “inserts” for securing machinery and shafting bases 
and supports and all piping should be accurately planned and 
installed during construction. 

The floors and walls transmit sound very readily and there 
are instances where these should be made double with an in¬ 
tervening air space. 

The merit of low cost of construction may, in some cases, 
he lost when instead of common labor the local trades regula¬ 
tions require the employment of the skilled trades or equally 
highly paid labor for placing the steel and mixing and pour¬ 
ing the concrete. Furthermore buildings of concrete pre- 


Roof pitch | * to I* __ SRty V&$l»*Roof 


328 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



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FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 329 


sent an unfinished appearance with the removal of the forms, 
and extra expense must be incurred in a special treatment 
of the exterior either by ‘ ‘ rubbing down ’ ’ or veneering with 
brick. 

Types of Construction.—Reinforced concrete indus¬ 
trial buildings are of two general types, so designated 
from the form of construction used: namely, the 
“beam and girder” type, which in its simplest form 
consists of columns, girders, cross beams and a slab 
floor; and the “flat slab” type, consisting of a flat 
slab floor supported on columns without the use of 
interior girders or beams, the tops of the columns 
being enlarged into extended caps. 

In both of these instances the form of construc¬ 
tion used generally follows the so-called “skeleton” 
or steel frame-work type, but with floors and roof 
cast integral with the columns, girders, or beams or 
with the columns and wall girders as the case may 
be. With such construction the wall columns and 
girders are generally left exposed, the panels being 
filled in with brick, concrete or tile curtain walls; the 
columns and girders being designed and finished in 
accordance with the architectural treatment desired. 
In other instances the brickwork is continued as a 
facing around all the exposed concrete, and the ex¬ 
terior of the whole structure is treated as a brick¬ 
work design. 

The Beam and Girder Type.—A very excellent ex¬ 
ample of the “beam and girder” type of reinforced 
concrete industrial building is the warehouse of The 
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, Salem, Mass., 
illustrated in Figures 104 and 105, and described 


330 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


5 Ply Tar &Slag Roof v 



Details of Window 


FIG. 105. DETAILS OF WALL CONSTRUCTION IN BEAM AND GIRDER 

TYPE OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDING 








































































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 331 


somewhat as follows in a special report of the Asso¬ 
ciated Factory Mutual Insurance Companies pub¬ 
lished shortly after the destructive Salem fire in 
which this building and its contents, though in the 
midst of the conflagration, escaped practically with¬ 
out damage: “The only building left standing, within 
the burned area, after the Salem fire was this con¬ 
crete storehouse of the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Com¬ 
pany; this was exposed to fire on all sides yet its 
contents were left intact.” The report illustrates the 
total destruction of the closely surrounding buildings: 

“The only damage to the storehouse itself was on the west 
side which was exposed to the full force of the conflagration 
and where tenement houses burned only six feet away. On 
this side the copper gutter was melted, the wire glass was 
softened in a few of the windows and cracked in the others. 
There was only a slight spalling of the concrete in a few 
spots, and the reinforcement was not exposed except in one 
place about two inches long on the face of a pilaster where 
the rod was too near the surface. 

“Two stories of this building contained finished goods in 
wooden cases, but the concrete walls and window protection 
withstood the flames so successfully that the contents of the 
building were not even scorched. The building was equipped 
with automatic sprinklers but none of these opened, indicating 
that at no time was the temperature within the storehouse 
as high as 155 degrees F. 

“This experience is of value to those planning to build a 
fireproof storehouse because this fire proved that it is pos¬ 
sible to build at moderate cost a storehouse which will with¬ 
stand even a conflagration. 

“This reinforced concrete building, which was designed 
and erected by the New England Concrete Construction Com- 


332 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 

puny, is 100 feet long, 56 feet wide and four stories high, 
with outside stairway and elevator towers. It was designed 
for a safe floor load of 200 pounds per square foot. The con¬ 
crete aggregate was trap rock and plain, round, reinforcing 
rods were used in the coluins, beams, and side walls, and ex¬ 
panded metal in the floor slabs. It contained 22,400 square 
feet of floor space and cost $25,500, including foundations, or 
$1.14 per square foot. (The cost to-day would probably ap¬ 
proximate $1.75 per square foot.) 

“A typical cross-section of this building (shown in Figure 
104), gives the important dimensions and the composition of 
the concrete in the various members; and Figure 105 shows 
the principal details of the side walls. 

“The interesting features are the following:—Reinforced 
side walls only four inches thick, cast separate from the out¬ 
side columns, but tied to them and to the floor slabs; small 
windows of wired glass in solid metal frames; inside tin-clad 
shutters normally held open by fusible links, these links 
melted during the fire and the shutters closed automatically, 
holding the fire successfully at all windows, even those where 
the glass softened and sagged; scuppers for draining the 
floors, thus preventing water loss in stories below if when 
sprinklers open there should be any floor leakage. 

“In constructing a storehouse of this kind to-day, some 
minor changes would probably be made, such as latches to 
hold the shutters closed, improved design of scuppers, and 
other details; and careful attention should be given to the 
following important features in addition to the items above 
mentioned: Proper design to carry the loads safely; solid 
foundations to prevent cracking which will follow any set¬ 
tling; good materials, such as a reliable brand of cement, 
clean sharp sand and dense aggregate in the floors to make 
them watertight; good workmanship and careful supervision 
in placing reinforcement and mixing and tamping the con¬ 
crete.” 


FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 333 


The Flat-Slab Type.—The “flat-slab” construction, 
without floor girders or beams, and with columns on 
20 to 25-foot centers is, in general, the ideal con¬ 
struction for the multi-storied factory building. The 
advantages of the flat-slab type are quite apparent; 
it eliminates dark ceiling pockets; increases the avail¬ 
able head room or saves from 12 to 18 vertical inches 
in each story of walls, columns, partitions, elevator 
travel, and stairs; and affords better natural lighting 
conditions with its flat ceilings and upturned lintels 
which allow the windows to be extended to the under¬ 
side of the ceilings. It is also somewhat cheaper 
structurally than the “beam and girder” type, owing 
to the saving in form work and the consequent 
economy of time in construction. 

The interior appearance and effect of the “flat 
slab” as contrasted with that of the “beam and 
girder” type of building is quite clearly indicated in 
Figures 106 and 107; and these illustrations empha¬ 
size particularly the greater attractiveness of the flat 
ceiling and the magnificient distribution of natural 
light its use affords. 

Example of “Flat-Slab” Construction.—A good 
illustration of the “flat-slab” factory building is 
shown in Figures 108 to 110. This building is the 
main manufacturing unit of a series of somewhat 
similar buildings of the Dallas, Texas, plant of the 
Continental Gin Company. This is a three-story 
U-shaped building, approximately 250 feet long and 
75 feet wide, with two end wings each approximately 
151 feet long and 65 feet wide. 

The general layout of the building, showing the 


334 


T1IK FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIGS. 106 AND 107. UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL LIGHT 
FROM FLAT SLAB CEILING (above) AS CONTRASTED WITH 
BEAM AND GIRDER TYPE (bdow) 















































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 335 



FIG. 108. FLOOR PLAN OF FLAT-SLAB BUILDING 


arrangement of walls, windows, columns, partitions, 
and exterior elevator, stair and toilet towers, is in¬ 
dicated in the floor plan, Figure 108. Other general 
structural features are shown in the transverse and 
longitudinal sections, Figure 109, and the exterior 
treatment of the building is made very clear by the 
photograph of the finished buildings, Figure 110. 

All columns in the main building are spaced ap¬ 
proximately 25 feet on centers while the interior 
columns in the two wings are spaced 15 feet on cen¬ 
ters on the cross section and 25 feet on the longi¬ 
tudinal section; this latter arrangement provided the 
most convenient division of side bays and center aisle. 

The height of stories is shown in the sectional 
view; these were 16 feet for the first floor, 15 for 
the second, and a minimum of 14 for the third. The 
window openings did not extend either the full width 

































































336 TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 109. SECTIONS THROUGH FLAT-SLAB BUILDING 



FIG. 110. EXTERIOR OF FLAT-SLAB BUILDING 
































































































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 337 

or quite to the full height of the panel openings, as 
the owners believed that with the strong light, the 
flat ceilings, and with approximately 150 square feet 
of glass area per hay they would be sacrificing very 
little, if anything, by the use of auxiliary brick 
pilasters and recessed panels and soldier course win¬ 
dow lintels to aid in the attractive exterior. 

The type of reinforced concrete construction used 
in this building is what is known as the 44 modified 
mushroom system,” with both exterior and interior 
columns reinforced longitudinally and hooped hori¬ 
zontally, flaring at the head and carrying a radially 
reinforced slab upon which rests in turn the flat floor 
slab which is reinforced in four directions. 

The concrete used for foundations and walls was 
in the proportions of one part cement, two and one- 
half parts of sand, and five parts gravel; all rein¬ 
forced concrete for columns and walls was of 1-2-4 
concrete, with screened and graded gravel aggregate 
and 44 Atlas” cement. 

A Five-Story Textile Building.—The five-story and 
basement building for the weaving department of 
the Botany Worsted Mills, Passaic, New Jersey, as 
designed and constructed by the John W. Ferguson 
Company, presents some interesting features of de¬ 
sign. The Ferguson Company state that the impor¬ 
tant problems in this development, aside from the 
usual engineering and architectural studies, were the 
absorption of the vibrations developed by the many 
heavy looms, without structural vibration, and the 
good lighting of the whole interior of the working 
floors of a building 134 feet wide by 195 feet long. 


338 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 111. CROSS-SECTION OF FIVE-STORY TEXTILE BUILDING 
DESIGNED TO RESIST VIBRATION 


A cross-section of this building is shown in Fig¬ 
ure 111, and an exterior view in Figure 112. The 
building was designed for a floor load of 150 pounds 
per square foot with maximum rigidity of structure, 
and to give the maximum intensity and diffusion of 
• light throughout each entire floor area. The five 
manufacturing stories are each 15 feet in clear 
height from floor to ceiling, the top story being 
finished with structural-steel saw-tooth roof trusses 
and concrete roof, with continuous top-liung steel 
sash of large glass area; the basement is 8 V 2 feet 
in the clear height. 

The columns of the building are spaced approxi¬ 
mately 23 feet on centers cross-sectionally, and 25 










































































































FOUNDRY AND MULTI-STORIED BUILDINGS 339 



FIG. 112. EXTERIOR OF FIVE-STORY TEXTILE BUILDING 

feet longitudinally. To minimize their size structural 
steel columns, of the “Grey” design, were used and 
these were encased with reinforced concrete. This 
concrete encasement was not figured for any stress, 
but solely as fire-proofing, for it was assumed that 
the load from the floor panels was carried direct to 
the steel columns; thus the stability of the structure 
as a whole would not be affected if the concrete cas¬ 
ing was somewhat damaged by fire and water. 

To obtain maximum head room it was necessary to 
reduce the floor slab to a minimum, and by superim¬ 
posing octagonal capitals of eight feet short diameter 
on the regular column capitals, the floor span was 




















340 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


reduced to approximately eight feet and it was pos¬ 
sible to use a floor slab of but eight inches in thick¬ 
ness. This construction also served to take up the 
vibration of the machinery. 

Compressive steel reinforcement was used about 
the columns in addition to the reinforced octagonal 
capital to take care of compressive stresses, and this 
was placed on the lines of the capital diagonals. 
Similar compressive reinforcement was placed over 
the wall columns to reduce the stresses in the slab 
from end-panel loading, and this also made it pos¬ 
sible to support the floor slab at the wall sections 
by upturned lintels and so carry the steel window 
sash to the ceilings. 

In further regard to the lighting, the Ferguson 
Company state that a maximum window area was 
provided and that ribbed glass was used to secure 
as even and penetrating a diffusion of light as could 
possibly be obtained, and that the result was an 
entire absence of glare in the bays adjacent to the 
walls, with ample light in the center bays. 

All intermediate or reinforced concrete floors were 
finished with %-incli maple top flooring laid diag¬ 
onally over a three-inch hemlock under-floor placed 
on an underlying one-inch thick blanket of tarred 
sand. It is reported that this system of flooring has 
proved very satisfactory in operation, particularly 
from the standpoint of vibration absorption. 

The exterior appearance of the building is in¬ 
teresting as indicating the possibilities of good archi¬ 
tectural treatment with a properly proportioned 
structure of good design and clean lines. 


CHAPTER X 


SPECIAL BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURAL 

TREATMENT 

Variety of Form and Use.—Many of our industrial 
plants require special buildings for a variety of pur¬ 
poses and a great diversity of use. Some of them 
may be entirely foreign to the main manufacturing 
work of the plant—such as, for example, office build¬ 
ings, power plants, pumping stations, transformer 
stations, garages, and what not,—or they may be such 
as are required for especial manufacturing processes 
that demand unusual forms of buildings and special 
types of construction or that, because of their hazard¬ 
ous or disagreeable nature, may be better carried on 
in buildings quite apart from the main manufac¬ 
turing plant. 

It is quite evident that these 4 ‘special and miscel¬ 
laneous buildings” necessarily comprise a wide va¬ 
riety of structures, differing materially from the usual 
type of factory buildings, and that their general de¬ 
sign or form and their type of construction is ex¬ 
tremely diversified. It is therefore not possible, 
within the limited space of this work, to enter into 
any extended discussion of these special and miscel¬ 
laneous buildings, but a brief reference to a few 
typical examples may be helpful. 

A Modern Dye House.—Very frequently, dye-house 
work requires a building other than that of the usual 


342 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


form and construction, because of the large quantities 
of steam and acid vapors given off during processing. 
This is particularly true where a part of the work in¬ 
volves the dyeing of delicate fabrics which the drip 
of condensation from the roof would ruin. A build¬ 
ing of the type that answers the rather severe re¬ 
quirements of such a plant is illustrated in cross sec¬ 
tion in Figure 113. 

This dye house is of the reinforced concrete skele- 
ton type, with hollow-tile cement-plaster walls, con- 



FIG. 113. CROSS-SECTION OF A DYE HOUSE 


Crete beam and hollow-tile roof, with cinder-concrete 
roof deck and plastered ceiling, and double-glazed side 
wall and monitor sash. No wood is embodied in its 
construction and no metal is exposed, other than the 
steel-framed window sash which are thoroughly pro¬ 
tected with “TochV’ acid-proof paints. Steam from 
the boiling, dyeing, and washing vats is almost en¬ 
tirely drawn off through exhaust ventilating hoods 
placed over each machine, while any that may be 
given out into the room is carried upwards by the 
blanket of air from the forced-blast ventilating and 
heating system and drawn off through the “Swart- 
wout” ventilators in each bay of the monitor roofs. 
The atmosphere of the building is always perfectly 





























ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


343 


clear and free from the usual clouds of steam; the 
roof is a perfect non-conductor, so that there is never 
any drip of condensed steam or moisture. 

The structural details of this building are fairly 
well indicated in the cross-sectional view referred to; 
but it is noted that while this arrangement of bays 
and wall and monitor lighting does not in itself give 
a great intensity of natural light in the two inner 
bays, or central division of the building, it is greatly 
helped by the gloss-white flat ceilings and side walls; 
and it happens that in this instance the long dyeing 
machines are placed hack to back in these bays with 
the operating ends extending to the lines of the moni¬ 
tor columns. 

A Water Purifying Plant.—As indicative of the spe¬ 
cial plants or buildings so often required in connec¬ 
tion with manufacturing operations, but set apart 
from the main factory buildings, a somewhat typical 
example is illustrated in Figures 114 and 115. This 
is a water filtration and softening plant, consisting 
of a sedimentation basin of 40,000-gallons capacity, 
built directly in the bed and between the banks of 
an old raceway, and a filtering plant of 20,000-gal¬ 
lons hourly capacity, with an auxiliary single-unit 
“Permutit” softening plant of 6,000-gallons hourly 
capacity, provision being made for the later installa¬ 
tion of a second and similar softening unit. 

The settling basin acts as a dam in the sluice¬ 
way; the gates at the head of the sluice being 
opened sufficiently to allow more water than is re¬ 
quired to flow, the excess being carried off by a 
24-inch overflow that leads from the screened intake 


344 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




Cl«v<r* 


tlevofion- 


FIG. 114. FLOOR PLAN AND ELEVATIONS OF A WATER- 

PURIFYING PLANT 


to*t >•*> 


to tlie sluiceway beyond and below the settling basin. 
Water is pumped from the settling basin through the 
filter to a steel tank of 50,000-gallons capacity, which 
is carried on the steel columns of one of the manu- 








































































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


34 5 



(W UooM*n of p>po» and 

K * SaW* moR* ond f’ao» 

o^« rwii#7n* • rio?m 
AJ' g- an nofvr 

•te ivw* rw ol rtfl rAoT 
which i* •Wvo^wn 



* 3 ec+lon &&• 


FIG. 115. FOUNDATION PLAN AND SECTIONS OF A WATER- 

PURIFYING PLANT 

facturing plant buildings at an elevation of approxi¬ 
mately 100 feet above the filter. From the tank the 
water flows by gravity through the “softener”, and 
thence to a second steel tank located above the Boil¬ 
ing House and at a height of something over 50 feet 






































































































































































340 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


so as to provide this supply under about 25-pounds 
pressure. There is only one pipe line connecting the 
filter and the filter water tank; a branch from this, 
within the water treating plant, connects to the 
44 softener/’ while another branch, near the foot of 
the tank riser, supplies the main mill with filtered 
water. 

The details of the form and construction followed 
in the design of this plant are clearly indicated in 
the floor plans, sections and elevations presented. The 
sedimentation basin is of reinforced concrete and is 
covered with a flat-slab reinforced-concrete roof 
which serves also as a floor for the filter and softener 
house. This building, erected upon the walls of the 
basin, is constructed with brick walls, clear-span 
timber-beam roof framing and three-inch plank roof 
which is covered with a four-plv felt and gravel roof¬ 
ing with metal flashing. 

The windows are wood sash in two center-pivoted 
units; these are set in eight-inch brick panels with 
arched heads corbelled out to the main brick work, 
and the architrave is finished with a brick and con¬ 
crete belt course carried up to form a parapet which 
in turn is capped with a concrete coping, thus con¬ 
forming to the general design of the main buildings 
of the manufacturing plant. 

A Transformer Station.—In those instances in 
which the industry purchases central-station power 
for the operation of its plant—and this practice is 
becoming more and more general where little, if any, 
steam is required in the manufacturing operations— 
it is frequently necessary to install transformers to 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


347 



tLtVATION 



FIG. 116. PLAN AND ELEVATION OF A TRANSFORMER STATION 

reduce the incoming high-tension current to the work¬ 
ing voltages required or generally in use or desired 
in the manufacturing plant; and usually where such 
current is used in fairly large quantities, it nesessi- 
tates the installation of a “transformer station 
Such a typical station is shown in plan and eleva¬ 
tion in Figure 116. In this particular instance the 
incoming central-station current is 16,500 volts and 
the mill requirements demand three different volt¬ 
ages. There is an air-brake switch on the main feeders 
at the pole just outside the mill property line, and 
























































































348 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


from here the incoming feeders, tapped for outside 
lightning arresters, pass to an oil-break switch lo¬ 
cated on a high platform inside the Switch House; 
from here these feeders lead directly to the 2,300- 
volt transformers. The transformers are of the 
outside type and are located on a concrete platform 
adjoining the Switch House on the side opposite the 
lightning arresters. Thus the transformer station 
comprises three distinct units—the lightning arrester 
section; the Switch House, which includes also both 
the high and low-tension instruments and the con¬ 
denser, and the transformer section. 

The general layout of this station and the design 
of the Switch House and the arrester and trans¬ 
former platform and enclosures are quite clearly 
evidenced by reference to the plan and elevation 
shown; but it may be noted that the Switch House 
is constructed of brick with concrete foundations, 
concrete floor with mastic asphaltum top coat, con¬ 
crete roof with five-ply tar and gravel covering, steel¬ 
framed window sash with wire glass, and steel en¬ 
trance door. The arrester and transformer platforms 
are of concrete and both are enclosed with twelve feet 
high * ‘Anchor Post” fencing. 

The Switch House, which is 20 feet in width and 25 
feet in depth, presented somewhat of a problem in 
the matter of exterior design and treatment because 
of its unusual height in comparison with its ground 
area, and it was decided that the best effect might 
be obtained by the scheme illustrated. This treated 
the three separate elements as integral parts of the 
one central motive. To aid in this the concrete 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


349 


foundations of the Switch House were carried up 
eighteen inches above yard level and were finished 
with a bevelled water table; this water table was 
then carried out for the full width of the arrester 
and transformer enclosures, thus forming the outer 
sides of the concrete platforms for these equipments 
and the foundations for the brick and concrete cor¬ 
ner posts supporting the heavy fencing. 

The front walls of the building were divided into 
two piers, six-feet wide, with a central panel eight- 
feet wide recessed four inches. These pilasters were 
flush faced, beginning with a 24 inch-soldier course 
and terminating in an 18-inch soldier course which 
was continued as an arch over the central steel-sash 
window and integrally framed door. The brick walls 
were then carried up flush to a concrete cornice 
topped with a brick parapet finished with a concrete 
coping. The design of the brick and concrete cor¬ 
ner posts was made to conform to these details, and 
both lines of the end cross fencing were carried in 
an unbroken section from post to post with a double 
section three feet wide by six feet high “mesh” gate 
framed therein. 

“Standard” Auxiliary Buildings.—There often 
arise instances in which certain auxiliary buildings 
are required for semi-permanent or purely temporary 
use. Such demands may be for garages, stock houses, 
locker rooms, luncheon rooms, laboratories, or any 
one of many other needs. There are several ways 
in which these requirements may be met, but it may 
be pertinent to illustrate the standardized form of 
the “all steel” building as one of the satisfactory 


350 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIG. 117. TYPICAL STANDARDIZED STEEL BUILDINGS 


typos in general nse, because of its low cost, ready 
erection, non-inflammable construction, neat appear¬ 
ance, and reasonable salvage value. Such a type of 
building is the “Truscon Standard” illustrated in 
Figures 117 and 118. 

The upper view in Figure 117 shows a twelve-car 
garage, while the lower represents a general utility 
design as used for many purposes. The outline view 
in Figure 118 illustrates a typical cross section of 

• f°rms in which such buildings may 
be had, while the lower view shows one of wider 




















ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


351 





>1 






N 

•- 




•i 






FIG. 118. CROSS-SECTION AND INTERIOR OF ‘ i STANDARD ’ * 

BUILDINGS 

cross-section used for a luncheon room by one of the 
large motor companies. 

These buildings are constructed of 4 ‘standard all- 
steel units” and in various forms of cross section 
from the clear span, in widths up to 60 feet, to the 




























352 


the factory buildings 






FIG. 119. FIRST AND SECOND FLOORS OF A FACTORY 

OFFICE BUILDING 



































































































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


353 


four-bay wide, with three lines of columns, in widths 
of 80 and 100 feet and in lengths of any multiple 
of two feet. The wall units, made in various heights, 
are interchangeable with doors and may be furnished 
either with or without steel window sash. 

The trusses and roof plates as well as the wall 
units are all steel. All field framing connections are 
made by means of slotted bolts and wedges; wall 
units are connected by means of steel “backing” mul- 
lions, and the roof plates, which are interlocking in 
design, are secured to the trusses by readily applied 
clips. These buildings may be erected upon any suit¬ 
able foundation; but a light concrete wall is the most 
desirable, particularly if the building is to be of semi¬ 
permanent or other than purely temporary service. 

Factory Office Building.—Prominent among the 
“special and miscellaneous” buildings required by 
the manufacturing plant are office buildings; and 
their arrangement, form of construction and exterior 
treatment, differs so radically from all other factory 
buildings that it may be worth while to note some of 
their salient features as expressed in two or three 
typical illustrations. There are presented in Figure 
119 the first and second floor plans respectively of a 
well-arranged small office building. This was de¬ 
signed for a plant whose manufacturing operations 
are extensive, but one in which the great output 
is shipped to a comparatively few large purchasers, 
with a corresponding reduction of business detail and 
office requirements. 

The floor plans are quite self-explanatory, but it 
may be noted that this building is of brick, steel, and 


354 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


concrete; the interior steel columns and girders are 
fire-proofed, the latter by a concrete floor and roof, 
with false ceilings of expanded metal and plaster. 

The first floor is of concrete or cinder fill and is 
waterproofed against dampness; it is covered with 
cork tile. The second floor is of concrete, covered 
with “battleship” linoleum. The brick and cement 
plastered vault extends to the roof. The stairwell is 
entirely fireproofed with brick walls, concrete stairs, 
steel sash with wire glass and “Kalameined” doors 
with clear wire-glass-panels. 

The first floor interior trim of the offices is birch 
with mahogany finish, the center hall partitions being 
panelled for a height of four feet with large plate- 
glass sash above. The second floor partitions are of 
the standard type of frame and glass. The lavatory 
and toilet rooms are enclosed with hollow tile and 
plastered partitions on the first floor and with framed 
partitions on the second; the floors of all lavatory 
and toilet rooms are concrete with sanitary bases. 

The general exterior design and treatment of this 
building is illustrated by photographic reproduction in 
Figure 8, Chapter V. It is extremely plain but pre¬ 
sents good lines and an attractive disposition of ma¬ 
terials. The real reason for the entrance vestibule is 
not clearlv indicated in the illustration but it was 
planned distinctly as a protecting or storm enclosure. 
This provided a frame and glass sash enclosure with 
heavy oak door and glass panel, the latter to be re¬ 
placed with a bronze wire screen door in the summer 
months, thus affording protection from winds, storm, 
and troublesome insects. 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


355 




FIG. 120 . PROPOSED FIRST FLOOR OF CORDAGE PLANT OFFICE 

A Cordage Plant Office Building.—The planning of 
the administration building and the provision of 
proper office facilities requires the co-operative effort 
of the owner and the engineer no less than does the 
factory itself. Frequently many studies must he 
made before the “official family’’ is severally satis¬ 
fied, and an illustration of this is indicated in a series 
of studies recently made for a middle west cordage 
company. 

There is shown in Figures 120 and 121 the general 
arrangement of a two-story office building for this 
company as tentatively agreed upon after several 
modifications of two preceding preliminary studies. 
The small insert in Figure 120 shows the location of 
the proposed building in reference to the street and 
further indicates that the Superintendent’s Office and 




















































































































































356 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


the Employment Department were to be jointly 
housed and quite apart from tlie general offices. 

The relative locations of the several departments, 
the space allotted to them, and the general facilities 
provided are so clearly indicated in the plans that no 
further statement in this regard is necessary; though 
it may not be amiss to call attention to the excellent 
working conditions afforded by an abundance of light 
for practically every desk, and ample means for ade¬ 
quate ventilation throughout. 

But after a thorough consideration of these and 
previously discussed studies the officials of the Com¬ 
pany decided to adopt, with certain modifications, the 
suggestions of the lirst study submitted, as shown in 



dCCONO r^OOK PV.A1A 
































































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


357 





the floor plans in Figures 122 and 123. The scheme 
there suggested afforded certain advantages in the 
arrangement of vaults, stairway, and locker, rest and 
toilet rooms. These are practically exterior to both 
the main building and the Superintendent’s and Em¬ 
ployment Offices and serve to separate these as was 
desired, yet affording ready intercommunication 
therewith and providing also good light and ventila¬ 
tion for the service rooms. 

The building or buildings were to be of fire-proof 
construction throughout, with concrete foundations, 
steel and concrete floors, and roofs with tile roofing, 
brick exterior walls, hollow-tile and cement plaster 
partitions, and expanded metal-concrete flat ceilings. 






















































































358 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




■Mootb rvevATorv 

CTG. 124 . FRONT, REAR, AND END ELEVATIONS OF CORDAGE 

PLANT OFFICE 


ing is indicated in the two sketched views of the 
The suggested exterior design for this office build- 
front and east elevations and the side or north eleva- 




































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


359 


tion in Figure 124. This scheme of treatment was 
•adopted as being in keeping with the adjacent plants 
of the Company and as presenting a solid and attrac¬ 
tive appearance without the use of any other than 
locally obtainable materials. 

A Reinforced Concrete Office Building.—An inter¬ 
esting study of the reinforced concrete type of office 
building is illustrated in Figures 125 and 126. The 
floor plans show the arrangement of the main en¬ 
trance, stairway, telephone and receiving room, the 
fireproofed vaults and filing rooms, the service rooms 
and the several offices and other departments. In this 
particular instance provision v r as made for the many 
visiting customers of the Company by the subdivision 
of Sales Offices on the first floor and an Exhibition 
Room on the second floor for the display of the 
plant’s product. From this room a concrete bridge 
gave immediate access to the main manufacturing 
building thirty feet distant; this also centralized the 
Superintendent’s Office which was located on the sec¬ 
ond floor adjoining the cost Department and adjac¬ 
ent to the drafting room. 

An unusual but very satisfactory arrangement was 
worked out for the service rooms. The men’s room 
was located in the rear of the building back of the 
telephone room, with entrance from the hall; the 
ceilings of both these rooms were made fairly low, 
so that it was possible to install the women’s room as 
a mezzanine between these and the second floor, with 
entrance thereto from the intermediate landing of the 
stairway; thus both these service rooms were con¬ 
veniently located and provided with good natural 


3G0 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 125 


FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR PLANS OF / 
CONCRETE OFFICE BUILDING 


IE1NFORCED 







































































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


301 



FIG. 126 . SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS OF A REINFORCED CONCRETE 

OFFICE BUILDING 


light and ventilation. This arrangement is indicated 
in the plans and again in the cross-sections of the 
buildings shown in Figure 126. The sectional draw¬ 
ings illustrate also the type of construction followed 
and the details employed throughout this building. 

An interesting view of the main entrance hall and 
stairway is presented in Figure 32, and this is typi¬ 
cal of the finish followed throughout both floors of 
the building. The exterior design of the building is 
outlined in the front and side elevations, as illus¬ 
trated in Figure 126. The final treatment closely ad¬ 
hered thereto with the exception of a distinct modi¬ 
fication of the main entrance, and this is quite clearly 
shown in the photographic view of this building illus¬ 
trated in Figure 28, page 163. 




















































































































































362 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Factory Power Plant Buildings.—Tlio steam and 
power requirements of industrial plants vary with the 
nature of the product and the processes employed, as 
well as with the magnitude of the manufacturing 
operations, and the result is a great variation in the 
kind and extent of the power plant equipment re¬ 
quired and a consequent multiplication of power 
house design. This may be thoroughly appreciated 
by reference to Myers’ “The Power Plant” in the 
Factory Management Course, wherein the subject of 
factory power plants is exhaustively treated. 

Because of this great variation in the requirements 
of such plants, it is manifestly impossible to discuss 
the many forms of such power plant buildings other 
than by illustrating the buildings of one or two some¬ 
what typical plants. A good idea of the present-day 
design of such buildings—that is, of their accepted 
forms and types of construction—may be had from a 
brief discussion of the structural and architectural 
features of an example of both the “small” and the 
“large” plant. 

A Typical Small Power Plant.—A typical example 
of the small power plant building is illustrated in 
plan and section in Figure 127. The plant equip¬ 
ment comprises three 150-horsepower boilers, with 
“dutch ovens” for the burning of refuse from the 
wood-working mill, and a 250-kilowatt, 3-phase, G0- 
cycle, 440-volt, direct-connected engine-driven gen¬ 
erating unit with the usual pumps, heater and other 
auxiliaries. In addition it includes one steam-driven 
“duplex” air compressor of 400-cubic feet capacity, 
one refrigerating machine for cooling the drinking 


ARCHITECTURAL 


TREATMENT 


363 



FIG. 127 . FLOOR PLAN, SECTIONS, AND ELEVATIONS OF A SMALL 

POWER STATION 

water for the manufacturing plant, and a vacuum 
pump for controlling the lumber dry kiln and the 
plant heating systems, which are operated on engine 
exhaust. 

The building, which is nearly square in plan, and 



















































































































































































































364 TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

26 feet high in the clear, is divided by a cross wall 
into boiler and engine rooms, and is constructed of 
concrete, brick, and steel; the concrete foundations, 
wall piers, and parapeted cornice forming a skeleton¬ 
ized structure supporting brick-panelled exterior 
walls and a steel-framed reinforced-concrete roof 
deck. Steel window sash of large glass and ventilat¬ 
ing area are used in the side walls and these are 
augmented by a centrally located roof monitor of the 
continuous top-hung steel sash type. 

A saw-dust and shavings collector was installed on 
the roof of the building through which the wood- 
mill refuse, delivered by air blast, is fed to the over¬ 
head fireproofed storage and suppl bin in the boiler 
room and thence by gravity to the dutch-oven fur¬ 
naces as required. A concrete coal-storage pocket 
adjoins the building on the rear or railroad side, and 
coal is delivered to this from the cars by a portable 
unloader and piler and thence is taken by barrow 
into the boiler room. 

The structural details of the building may be quite 
fully observed by reference to the plan and sections 
noted. The exterior design and architectural treat¬ 
ment of the building is indicated in outline in the 
elevations shown and a photographic view, showing 
the rear or railroad elevation of the building and also 
the coal pocket and shavings collector, is illustrated 
in Figure 29, page 164. 

A Typical Large Power Plant.—The buildings of the 
power plant recently constructed for the Milton Manu¬ 
facturing Company are fairly representative of the 
large or central-station type of such factory plants; 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


365 


although, in this instance they present some unusual 
features due to the location of the station, alongside 
the Susquehanna River which has a known stage of 
thirty feet, and to the type of condensing equipment 
used and the scheme of water intake and discharge 
employed. 

This plant is laid out for an ultimate development 
of 12,000 kilowatts, with the immediate installation 
of one 5000-k.v.a. steam-driven turbo-generator and 
the necessary boilers and auxiliaries; but the river 
intake and water supply and central reservoirs, the 
turbine and condenser buildings and the coal and ash 
handling systems are carried out to the ultimate re¬ 
quirements. Hence, with the installation of the sec¬ 
ond power unit, which will be of 10,000-k.v.a. capac¬ 
ity, the only building extension required will be an 
addition to the boiler house of somewhat the same 
size and identical design as the existing building to¬ 
gether with the extension of the overhead coal bunker 
and the erection of a second stack. 

The general arrangement and equipment of the sta¬ 
tion is shown in the typical plans and cross sections, 
Figures 128 and 129. These drawings, originally pre¬ 
pared in conjunction with the elevations for the con¬ 
struction of the buildings above the foundations, show 
very clearly the form, the size, and the type of construc¬ 
tion of the buildings together with their general and 
detailed dimensions. 

The boiler house is approximately 110 feet long and 
77 feet wide; the basement or ash-removal floor has 
a clear height of approximately 11 feet; the coal 
bunker section is approximately 58 feet from floor 


3G6 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 






MANUFACTURING COMPANY 





















































































































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


3G7 



MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
























































































































































































3G8 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


to roof, and the main or boiler house section 44 feet. 
The turbine and condenser house is approximately 48 
by 70 feet in plan, and the turbine room is built up 
on the walls of the condenser room, the floor of this 
being 30 feet below that of the turbine room floor; 
the height of the turbine room averages 32 feet from 
floor to roof. The water supply and control reser¬ 
voirs combined, are 25 by 30 in plan, with heights of 
40 and 30 feet respectively. 

The reservoirs and all of the building foundation 
Avails are constructed of reinforced concrete; other 
foundations, which are also of concrete, are without 
reinforcement. The floors of the reservoirs and con¬ 
denser room are of concrete, reinforced against the 
upward pressure of the high stages of the river; the 
12-inch plain slab used in the basement of the boiler 
house was deemed sufficient without reinforcement. 

The walls of the superstructures of these buildings 
are of brick, the exterior walls of the boiler house 
being of pilaster and recessed panel design, while 
those of the turbine house are flush surface through¬ 
out. Structural steel trusses of clear span and ap¬ 
proximately Ifl-feet centers were used for the roof 
support in the turbine house. Similar trusses were 
used in the main or low section of the boiler house, 
but these were supported on one end by the coal 
bunker girder which, carried on intermediate steel 
columns and extending from wall to wall of the 
building, supported also the west brick Avail of the 
high coal-bunker section of this building; the roof 
over the coal-bunker section is supported by clear 
span I-beams. 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


369 


The roof decks of all these buildings, except those 
of the reservoirs, which are of reinforced concrete, 
are of gypsum—the poured slab type, “metropolitan” 
system being used—and all roofs were covered with 
“Barrett Specification Twenty Year Guarantee” roof¬ 
ing with “Flex Lock” flashing. Drainage crickets 
were formed of the same material as the roof slabs, 
and drainage is through “Holt” connectors to inside 
cast-iron leaders. “Holt” connectors are also used for 
all other pipes projecting above the roof. 

All floors are of concrete with various top finishes 
or wearing surfaces; those in the ash-removal base¬ 
ment are of concrete with trowelled surfaced top coat, 
poured monolithic with the base; the condenser-room 
floor is finished with a two-inch top coat using 
“Master-Builders” hardener; the floors of the boiler 
and turbine rooms are reinforced concrete slabs, sup¬ 
ported by steel girders and beams and these are fin¬ 
ished with Jolins-Manville “mastic asphalt” flooring, 
the mixture for the turbine room floor being such as 
to afford all the resiliency possible, consistent with 
other needs; the floor of the service room is finished 
with a sanitary coved base. 

Certain features of these buildings are particularly 
interesting, and not the least important are liberal 
working spaces about all equipment, good natural 
lighting, and excellent ventilation,—the plans and 
sections presented are well worthy of study in this 
regard. The windows in the front or east wall of 
the boiler-house building are 16 feet wide and 30 feet 
high: those in the side walls 10 feet wide and 21 feet 
high, while the top-hung steel sash, continuous be- 


370 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tween the trusses in the west wall, are 4% foet in 
height. This arrangement provides not only wonder¬ 
fully good natural lighting in every part of the boiler 
house, but most excellent ventilation which is further 
augmented by large ventilators installed in the roof 
over the boilers. 

The windows in the turbine room are eight feet 
wide and 20 feet high, extending up to the underside 
of the trusses. Continuous top-hung steel sash are 
used in the west wall of the coal-hunker section of 
the buildings, and “louvre’’ ventilators are used in 
each end wall of this upper structure. 

All the windows are fitted with “Lupton” steel 
sash, the main windows being of the “power house ’ 9 
type with 90 per cent ventilation, and all are con¬ 
trolled by “Pond” hand-operated devices. All sash 
are glazed with double-thick rough wire glass. 

The interior partitions about the pump and service 
rooms are steel framed, with four-feet high concrete 
walls extended to a height of 20 feet with steel sash, 
and the rooms are roofed over with a cinder concrete 
deck. Ventilation is afforded both by the ventilating 
units of the side wall sash and by auxiliary roof 
vents. 

The arrangement of stairways, overhead platforms, 
and walkways is exceptionally convenient, and their 
construction may well be noted. All stairs are de¬ 
signed with a seven-inch rise and a ten-inch tread; 
all are three feet wide in the clear and provided with 
hand rails. The longer stairways are broken with 
intermediate platforms; these are shown in both the 
plans and sections illustrated. The stairway connect- 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


371 


ing the boiler room and ash-removal floors is com¬ 
pletely enclosed with reinforced concrete walls, a fire¬ 
proofed door at the bottom opening into the ash 
room. The stairs are of concrete with “Feralun” 
safety treads. All other stairways are built up of 
channel-iron stringers with “Feralun” treads bolted 

directly thereto. 

* 

The main stairway in the boiler room leads to a six- 
feet wide, checkered steel-plate walkway over the 
boiler breeching; this walkway of structural steel 
framing is suspended from two channels attached to 
the roof trusses and continuous from wall to wall of 
the building. From this walkway another but nar¬ 
rower walkway or platform connects with the stair¬ 
way leading to.the upper platform placed on a level 
with the top of the coal-bunker cross girders. A 
similar stair connects this and the upper-conveyor 
platform, while a three-riser section leads to a west 
wall platform from which a door opens directly onto, 
but slightly above, the roof of the main section of 
the boiler house. From this roof ready access, by 
means of iron ladders, is had to all the several roof 
levels of the station. 

An interesting problem was presented in the mat¬ 
ter of the exterior design and architectural treatment 
of these buildings, appearing as they did in the 
rough, as somewhat ungainly in combined form. 
This was further aggravated by the fact that the 
station was to be located in a large field, somewhat 
distant from any other buildings, and with a not un¬ 
attractive but distinctly rural setting. Other ele¬ 
ments were a very tall stack or chimney, a nearness 


372 


T11K FACTORY BUILDINGS 



W<st Ovction- . iocth r:«vo*»o. 

FIG. 130 . EXTERIOR STUDY OF LARGE POWER PLANT 

to the State highway, and a desire to present not 
only a creditable and attractive appearance in the 
finished station, but to do so at a minimum of 
expense. 

The treatment of the problem was therefore re¬ 
duced to a study of proportions and lines and to the 
disposition ot concrete, brick, and steel sash, shorn of 
practically all ornamentation other than a “mar¬ 
quise over the main entrance. The best expression 
of just how this exterior treatment was developed is 
conveyed by the elevations of the working drawings 
shown in Figure 130 and by the photograph of the 
station reproduced in Figure 131. 

Briefly, no materials other than those generally 
used throughout the construction of the work, with 
the exception of. a dark red wire-cut face brick, were 
employed in the exterior finish of the buildings; and 


































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


373 



FIG. 131 . ENI) VIEW OF LARGE POWER PLANT 

This shows how the extreme height of the building was neutralized 

by effective panel treatment 

the projections or depressions of pilasters, panels, belt 
courses, and cornices in no case exceeded four inches 
from the face of the main walls. The extreme height 
of the bunker section of the boiler house (which 
paralleled the highway) as compared with the moder¬ 
ate length of the building and the extended frontage 
and contour of the station site, made it necessary 
to resort to the use of broad brick and concrete belt 
courses in long horizontal lines, to minimize the real 
height and magnify the apparent breadth or frontage 
to an extent sufficient to produce a development well 
balanced as a whole. 
















374 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



// 

/A- 


\ 








FIG. 132. DETAILS 



The main entrance to the power station is on the 
south side of the boiler house (see Figure 173, page 
430), and is enclosed with a frame having removable 
transom, transom bar side panels, and mullions; the 
swinging double doors, three feet wide and eight feet 
high, are constructed of heavy oak. 

Another very interesting feature of the station is 
the stack; this is a “Heinecke” chimney extending to 
a height of 250 feet above its base. The stack is 
built of hollow, radial, red brick, with the owner’s 
name inserted in buff. Considerable study was given 
to the “lines” of the stack, to the details of the 
flared head and plain cap, and to the design of the 
concrete base which extended 10 feet above grade 
and some 20 feet below. The reinforced concrete 


































































ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


375 



FIG. 133. VIEW OF LARGE POWER PLANT AND 250-FT. SMOKE STACK 

walls, octagonal in plan, were carried on a 30-foot 
square reinforced concrete pod resting on the gravel 
bed. The details of this stack are shown in the plan 
and photograph reproduced in Figures 132 and 133. 











376 


TilK FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Views of Representative Buildings. While the pre¬ 
ceding discussions have presented some excellent ex¬ 
amples of modern factory buildings, and some of no 
mean architectural merit, the greater stress was 
placed on the engineering design of the structures— 
that is, their form and type of construction—than on 
their architectural treatment and finish. This latter 
subject was indeed emphasized in certain studies, but 
not sufficiently so, for there is ever-recurring evidence 
that there still are some plant owners and managers 
who do not appreciate the worth of beautiful and at¬ 
tractive factory buildings and who do not yet realize 
that good looking factory buildings may be con¬ 
structed at little if any greater cost than those of 
strictlv utilitarian factors" design. 

Assuredly there must be some real and practical 
reasons for the attractive and beautiful factory build¬ 
ings that have been erected by some of our most 
progressive industrial concerns. And is it not safe to 
assume that the underlying motives have been such 
as would reflect dignity, stability and trustworthi¬ 
ness upon the owners and bring both pleasure and 
profit in their work! Beautiful and attractive fac¬ 
tory buildings are a good advertisement; in the mind 
of the public there is apt to be a real and distinct 
relationship between the character of the factory and 
the quality of its product. Such buildings have a 
most wholesome and beneficial effect upon the plant 
operatives, executives as well as the general em¬ 
ployees; a man is influenced by his surroundings and 
the ugly, sordid, unattractive and unsanitary factory 
surely adds nothing to the pleasure of the day’s work 


ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


377 


or to one’s loyalty to and pride in the organization of 
which one may be a part, and it must certainly 
hamper both the quality and quantity of one’s work 
and output. The modern, sanitary workshop—that 
is, the attractive factory building—amid agreeable 
surroundings is a silent inspiration to effort resulting 
ultimately in profit. 

It is generally supposed that any attempt to beau¬ 
tify and make the factory building architecturally 
attractive demands at once a generous expenditure 
which will materially increase the cost of such a 
structure; but this is not so when the work is han¬ 
dled by those skilled in the application of industrial 
architecture, for the desired results may be obtained, 
as intimated in Chapter YTTT, by “good mass, proper 
proportioning of structural members, interesting sky¬ 
line, and a judicious use in point of color and texture 
of the materials employed’’ and their proper dis¬ 
tribution. 

Perhaps no better argument may be presented in 
support of these contentions than visual evidence, 
and for this purpose additional illustrations of mod¬ 
ern industrial buildings—differing widely in form, 
construction and exterior treatment and finish—are 
presented as typifying the present day tendency to 
wholesomely attractive and, in some instances, ar¬ 
chitecturally beautiful factory buildings. 

The Element of Simplicity.—An interesting illustra¬ 
tion of simplicity of design, exhibiting clean lines and 
an almost total absence of ornamentation, is shown in 
Figure 134. This is a view of a series of shop buildings 
of moderate width, sufficiently separate, one from the 




378 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 134 . SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE SHOP BUILDINGS 
.1. .T. Donovan, Architect 

other to prevent any dimunition in interior natural 
lighting. The buildings are of the self-supporting 
steel frame type, covered with expanded metal con¬ 
crete and with natural finished base, pilasters, and 
parapet reduced to a well proportioned minimum to 
afford a maximum of steel sash lighting and ventilat¬ 
ing units. Architectural relief is secured by the mo¬ 
tive of the main entrance and the lines of the upper 
panels enclosing the truss; it is further secured by 
the setting of the shops,—placed as they are a short 
distance back from the property line and in the 
midst of well kept lawns. Certainly there is nothing 
of the “artificial” in this treatment, and assuredly 
the development and use of good proportion and at¬ 
tractive lines added little to the cost of these build¬ 
ings. 1 

A Plain, One-Story Building.—A fairly good ex¬ 
ample of the one-storv reinforced-concrete factory 
building of very plain and severe exterior is that 
shown in Figure 135. Here the treatment, which 
tends to dwarf the height and magnify the area, is 








ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


379 



FIG. 135. ONE-STORY BUILDING OF THE CLEVELAND TANNING CO. 

Osborn Engineering Co., Engineers and Contractors 

ratlier the opposite of that result usually sought in 
the design of the low building. This effect is de¬ 
veloped by the use of the long narrow recessed foun¬ 
dation and wall panels, the flush and almost un¬ 
broken parapets, and the long horizontal lines of the 
narrow moulding over the windows and of the para¬ 
pet coping. It is nevertheless a clean design, and 
with the exterior wall surfaces well rubbed down to 
remove form marks it presents a neat although some¬ 
what cold appearance. 

Symmetrical Saw-Tooth Building.—The saw-tooth 
building in Figure 136 is trractive because of the 
strength and symmetry of its design with an excel¬ 
lent handling of large glass areas and an effective 
disposition of brickwork relieved by concrete belt 
courses. In this instance the long, horizontal lines 
of white finished concrete are well used, in conjunc¬ 
tion with the unbroken foundation wall water table, 
the heavy base belt courses of brick and the continu- 
ous brick cornice, to dwarf and soften the height and 
prominence of the monitor sash. 

Very little was expended here for ornamentation; 
some extra labor was entailed in setting the soldier- 
















— —-—- --- - »—« — — 

course brick caps of the pilasters and in the corbel¬ 
ling of the cornice; it was practically as cheap to 
extend the concrete window sills in the continuous 
belt courses shown as it would have been to have 
carried them only the width of the window open¬ 
ings; and the concrete coping, while slightly more 
costly than vitrified tile, serves a purpose that the 
tile could not have effected. The setting adds much 
to its attractiveness; it is one of a group of several 
buildings in the midst of a large site with well-kept 
grounds; the brick used are of a dark red color, and 
the metal sash are painted a dark green,—the whole 
being pleasantly relieved by the white trim. 

Two Well-Proportioned Machine Shops.—The view 
shown in Figure 137 illustrates the modem type of 
machine and heavy erecting shop of the strictly 
utilitarian general design with the maximum possible 
glass area in both exterior walls and central monitors. 
It is, however, well proportioned and the structural 
members are so treated as to create an appearance 



FIG. 13G. A SAW-TOOTH BUILDING OF THE OTIS 


ELEVATOR CO. SHOPS 
Dnv A- Ziirmiprmnn. Unrinfers 









ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


381 



FIG. 137. MACHINE SHOP OF BUSCH-SULZER BROS. DIESEL 

ENGINE CO. 

The Arnold Co., Engineers 

of stability and rigidity. It looks wliat it is,—a 
strongly fabricated frame, well knit together against 
lateral distortion. An otherwise barren area of glass 
has been made attractive by the relief afforded by 
heavy, dark red brick pilasters and the judicious use 
of white cement-finished concrete foundation walls, 
windoy sills, and coping with their ornamental sup¬ 
ports. The brick work is further softened by the 
use of panels in the main corner pilasters and in the 
architraves of all elevations. These buildings are all 
one-story,—the purpose of the intermediate belt 
course of brick and concrete is to cover the lateral 
bracing of the steel frame and the crane girders and 
to improve both the structural and architectural de¬ 
sign. 

The Morgan and Wright Machine Shop shown in 
Figure 138 is also a notable example of able engineer¬ 
ing and architectural skill. The general impression 
is that the small one-story machine shop is a hard 







THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


382 



FIG. 138. MACHINE SHOP OF THE MORGAN & WRIGHT CO. 

Albert Kahn, Architect 

subject to make anything of under the best of con¬ 
ditions and that it becomes almost hopeless when it 
has a place of prominence along a city thoroughfare. 
But see what the designer had done with this build¬ 
ing, using only the ordinary materials of construc¬ 
tion,—brick, concrete, and steel sash. 

The main motives have been an appearance of 
strength, proper proportion, clean lines, and attrac¬ 
tive coloring and finish without any oranmentation 
foreign to the structural elements. This was de¬ 
veloped by the omission of the usual heavy concrete 
base and the substitution of a brick base capped with 
a window sill concrete belt course and the use of 
brick buttresses and camber head sash with corbelled 
arches, the buttresses being carried up from the 
ground line to their return to the brick parapet above 
the spring line of the window arches, their apparent 
height being accentuated by the concrete skewbacks 
and caps and the plain flush parapet with heavy con¬ 
crete coping. 

















ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


383 



FIG. 139. WHITE ENAMEL REFRIGERATING CO. 

A. H. Stem, Architect 

The concrete skewbacks serve also as a continua¬ 
tion of the belt course motive of the front of the 
building, the purpose of which was to accentuate the 
apparent width of this elevation. This was accom¬ 
plished without any apparent dwarfing of its height, 
in comparison with the side elevation, by the use of 
a central brick pediment. The heavy corner abutt- 
ments add not only the character of strength to this 
design, but with their long vertical lines and long 
narrow windows excentuate the height of the struc¬ 
ture as well. 

Harmonious Settings.—Another simple but effective 
treatment of the one-story reinforced concrete build¬ 
ing, materially enhanced by its setting in extensive 
and well laid out grounds, is that of one of the manu¬ 
facturing units of the White Enamel Refrigerator 
Company’s plant, shown in Figure 139. This exterior 
design has closely followed the lines of the structural 










384 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




1IG. 140. GENERAL VIEW AND ENTRANCE DETAILS OF THE PLANT 
OF THE HUMP HAIRPIN MANUFACTURING CO. 

A. S. Alschuler, Architect 






























ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


385 


members of the building, and the otherwise flat wall 
surfaces are broken up by the corner bays, which are 
treated as more or less independent buttresses, and 
the use of a simple cornice terminating at all corners 
in a circular pediment. The rough finished rather 
light-toned concrete walls are relieved by the use of 
colored tile inserts in both the architrave and the 
cornice and the entire color scheme is enlivened by 
the surrounding hedges and lawns. 

Ornamental Treatment.—The plant of the Hump 
Hairpin Manufacturing Company, Figure 140, is 
illustrative of the architect’s skill in designing a 
permanent home for a solidly established industry, 
which shall convey to observers something of the 
owner’s ideas of the quality of its product, the sta¬ 
bility of its markets, the solidity of its standing, and 
the inspiration and ideals of its organization. This 
development is a complex architectural composition 
in which free use is made of the ornamental possi¬ 
bilities of concrete, brick and terra cotta. 

The predominate features in this general design 
are the special treatments of the corner bays and the 
central entrance, the latter being recessed and ap¬ 
proached through an open court that breaks the main 
frontage of the building, as shown in the lower view. 
The detailed treatment consists in the application of 
well proportioned base courses, pilasters, sills, cor¬ 
nices, parapets, and copings, with the use of panelled 
brickwork and terra cotta ornaments; the color, tex¬ 
ture and disposition of the materials used being care¬ 
fully worked out and skilfully handled in their 
execution. 


386 TITE FACTORY BUILDINOS 



F1U. 141. FACTORY OF THE DOIHiE MOTOR CO. 
Albert Kuhn, Engineer and Architect 


Good Treatment in Reinforced Concrete.—The illus¬ 
trations in Figures 141 and 142 are fairly representa¬ 
tive of the modern plants of the automobile and 
kindred industries. The first view shows the plant 
of the Dodge Motor Company and the second that 
of the Continental Motor Company. All of these 
buildings are of reinforced concrete employing in 
their construction a maximum amount of steel sash, 
so that their exterior treatments had, necessarily, to 



FIG. 142 . FACTORY OF THE CONTINENTAL MOTOR CO. 
Albert Kuhn, Engineer and Architect 















ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


387 



FIG. 143. FACTORY OF THE BROWN & BIGLOW CO. 

be confined largely to the proper proportioning of 
structural members and the careful selection of the 
limited amount of facing materials used,—their tex¬ 
ture, color, and disposition. In the case of the Dodge 
factory, the concrete wall columns are finished with¬ 
out ornament other than a simply formed cap, and 
the connecting horizontal panels at floor and roof 
levels are of concrete and brick broken by the in¬ 
sertion of concrete tiles. The office building is brick 
veneered; the full length pilasters being capped with 
concrete and supporting a practically flush brick 
panelled concrete cornice. 

The treatment of the exterior of the Continental 
building is quite clearly detailed in the illustration; 
prominence has been given to the development of the 
corner bays which embody a very attractive disposi¬ 
tion of concrete and brick and the effect so produced 
has been applied throughout the entire structure. 

Colonial Design.—A somewhat unusual but never¬ 
theless attractive design, which depends upon an ex¬ 
tensive broad acreage and park-like setting for its 
proper expression, is that of the Brown and Biglow 








THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


388 



FIG. 144. FACTORY OF THE SILLCOCKS & MILLER CO. 


Plant illustrated in Figure 143. This is of the 
colonial period, with a central portico and specially 
featured end-bays and interior towers. Much of its 
good effect is obtained by the use of plain broad 
pilasters and continuous heights of steel sasli finished 
with a rather plain entablature. The entire building 
is constructed of reinforced concrete with white 
cement finish, and there is an absence of color other 
than the relief furnished by the steel sash frames 
and glass and that of the surrounding green lawns 
and trees. 

Treatment for Residential Location.—The factory 
of Sillcocks and Miller, Figure 144, illustrates the 





















ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


389 



FIG. 145 . PLANT OF DE VOE & REYNOLDS COMPANY 
Ernest Green, Architect 

application of tlie “Tudor” style of architecture to 
an industrial building located in a more or less resi¬ 
dential section of a suburban town. This building, 
which is of reinforced concrete, is quite clearly de¬ 
tailed in the view referred to and it presents a most 
attractive appearance, being located well back from 
the street and with a setting of extended and well 
shaded lawn. The main features of this design are 
the central bay, with its exceptionally well-executed 
entrance and doorway, the buttressed pilasters and 
the stack with its indented parapet. 

Treatment for City Location.—The two views in 
Figures 145 and 146, illustrate typical city factories 
of the rather plain exterior design of reinforced con- 















390 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



fig. 146 . toij*:do factories building 
Schenek & Williams, Architects 

crete construction. The DeVoe and Reynolds build- 
ing is entirely devoid of ornament other than the 
detail of the main entrance doorway and plainly 
molded water table and cornice. It relies for its 
character entirely upon the proportioning of its essen¬ 
tial structural elements, and these have been so 
handled as to present a rather attractive appearance. 

The Toledo Factories building is a structure de¬ 
signed for a maximum of natural lighting and ven¬ 
tilation, and for this purpose great expanses of steel 
sash and glass are used; but the structural elements 
of the building have been so skilfully handled that 
the combination of the two has resulted in a remark¬ 
able pleasing exterior. The main features are the 
buttressed pilasters extending to the fourth story 
from which they are carried up flush with the archi¬ 
trave, and this is finished with a well molded cor¬ 
nice and parapet. 















ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


391 



FIG. 147 . MIDLAND WAREHOUSE 
S. Scott Joy, Architect 

Brick-Veneered Concrete Building’s.—Figures 147, 
148, 149, and 150 may be said to represent typical 
examples of brick veneered reinforced concrete in¬ 
dustrial buildings and tlie details of their exterior 
treatments are quite clearly shown. 

The warehouse building is one of three like units 
and the controlling motives in each are the corner 
stair and elevator towers; these are carried up from 
the first story of the building, which has the appear¬ 
ance of a substantial base for the whole structure. 
The architecture of the whole design is massiveness 
and solidity, and architectural relief is obtained by 
an exceptionally good disposition of light-colored 
terra cotta trim and ornament. 

The main motive of the Central Bag Company’s 
building is the corner stair, elevator, and tank tower. 






























392 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 148. CENTRAL BAG MANUFACTURING COMPANY 

S. Scott Joy, Architect 



FIG. 149. RICHMAN BROTHERS 1 FACTORY 
Christian, Schwarzenberg & Gaede, Architects 


























ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 


393 




FIG. 150 . DETAIL OF MAIN ENTRANCE AND FLOOR PLAN OF 
RICHMAN BROTHERS' FACTORY 














































394 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


This has been very skilfully executed in every detail 
and the lines of the main structure have been devel¬ 
oped in conformity therewith, bv a most excellent 
disposition of brickwork and terra cotta trim. 

The plant of Richman Brothers illustrates how 
attractive such large brick-faced buildings may be 
made without the use of heavy projections and orna¬ 
ments, provided one has the skill ot proper proportion 
and good lines and the ability to handle the brick 
details in such a way as to accentuate its beauty and 
relief. These buildings are united in a single struc¬ 
ture, U-shaped in plan, with a central entrance wing, 
as shown in Figure 150. This view quite clearly de¬ 
tails the main entrance doorway and the treatment 
of the brick pilasters and panels as well as the deco¬ 
rative features of the frieze and cornice. 

Examples of Excellent Architectural Treatment — 
The studies of the plants of the Liquid Carbonic 



FIG. 151. FACTORY OF LIQUID CARBONIC COMPANY 
Nimmons unil Fellows, Architects 

























ARCHITECTURAL TREATMENT 395 

Company and of the Kimball Company, Figures 151- 
155, represent two of onr most attractively designed 
modern factory buildings. Both are compositions of 
real architectural beauty, and the predominant mo¬ 
tives especially have been detailed with rare skill. 

A general view of the Carbonic plant, Figure 151, 
shows an exterior treatment developed by emphasis 
of the structural features of the buildings, well-pro¬ 
portioned clean lines, with an attractive disposition 
of brickwork relieved by a moderate use of terra 
cotta trim and ornamentation; the whole treatment 
conforming to and relieving the one dominating fea¬ 
ture,—the stair, elevator, and tank tower. 

This tower, one of the most beautiful factory towers 
in existence, is illustrated in enlarged view in Figure 
155, and its details of proportion, symmetry, and 
simplicity of execution are worthy of the closest 
study. It comprises three main elements,—a base in 
which the main entrance has been incorporated with 
remarkable attractiveness, a shaft of clean, strong, 
straight lines, and a cap whose columns or pilasters 
terminate in a pediment producing a most interesting 
sky-line. The materials employed in the exterior 
treatment of this tower are a good face brick and a 
very small amount of terra cotta trim and ornamenta- 
tion. The effect produced is not the result of using 
costly structural materials or expending any appreci¬ 
able sum for ornamental work,—it is, instead, re¬ 
markable evidence of the worth of the architect’s 
skill as applied to factory buildings. 

The architect’s sketch of the “utilitarian design” 
for the Kimball building is illustrated in Figure 152. 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


39G 



fig. 152. architect’s “utilitarian” sketch of 

KIMBALL BUILDING 



FIG. 153. ARCHITECT’S FINISHED DESIGN OF KIMBALL BUILDING 

George C. Nimmons, Architect 

Compare this, in its “characteristic boldness”, with 
its “ugly sprinkler tank on stilts’’ and bereft of 
“even' single thing which might add to its attrac- 























AR( HITECTURAL TREATMENT 


397 



FIGS. 154 AND 155. ELEVATOR AND TANK TOWER OF THE 
KIMBALL BUILDING (left) AND LIQUID CARBONIC PLANT (right) 


tiveness” with the architect’s finished design as 
illustrated in a photographic view of this building 
in Figure 153. 

The building as actually constructed presents a 
compostion employing a liberal use of terra cotta 





















398 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ornamentation, but with rare good skill. This build¬ 
ing, no less so than that of the Liquid Carbonic Com¬ 
pany, furnishes an excellent study in general design, 
correct proportions, proper selection of dominating 
motives, attractive detail and pleasing ornamentation. 

The main motives selected for emphasis are the 
corner elevations and the central tower. This tower, 
which embodies the main entrance to the plant, also 
houses an elevator and sprinkler tank; the latter is 
located behind the clock, and below this the belfry 
contains a set of four-bell chimes which are used to 
sound the beginning and end of working periods. 
The tower is again the one feature dominating the 
whole composition and its structural attractiveness 
is shown in enlarged view in Figure 154. 

The elements of its design follow in a general way 
the scheme of the tower illustrated in Figure 155, 
but in this instance it is made an integral part of 
the main building. 

The architect for this building makes the state¬ 
ment that “the Kimball Building as constructed 
cost approximately $326,000; while the same building, 
as estimated by the contractor, would have cost, if 
built at the same time according to the utilitarian 
design, $311,043; so that the total saving which could 
have been made by adopting the utilitarian design 
would have been but $14,957.” In other words this 
relatively small additional expense saved this struc¬ 
ture from being an ugly eye-sore in the landscape 
and made it instead one of the most beautiful of our 
modern, architecturally attractive, factory buildings. 


CHAPTER XI 


BUILDING DETAILS AND EQUIPMENTS 

Building Details. —It is neither the intent nor the 
purpose of these discussions to attempt any presenta¬ 
tion of the great mass of technical formula and detail 
entering into the design of factory buildings; instead 
it is desired to show those that are practical and have 
proven their worth by actual use and service. 

The preparation of the working plans covering the 
complete development of an entirely new industrial 
plant, and such as would be required for its construc¬ 
tion, groups itself naturally into three subdivisions: 
First, the development of the site, including grading 
and drainage, railroad sidings, yard cranes or other 
mechanical means for the transfer and handling of 
materials, roadways, walkways, property fences and 
entrance gates, fire hydrants and hose houses, and 
yard lighting, and such other auxiliaries as may be 
required. Second, the detailing of the proposed plant 
buildings, including the foundations, the skeleton 
frames, the walls, floors, roofs, roof covering, win¬ 
dows, doors, stairs, elevators and partitions, exterior 
details and such other structural work as may come 
within the scope of such actual building or construc¬ 
tion work as would ordinarily be embodied within 
the general construction contract. And third, the 
laying out of the building equipments, including 

399 


400 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


water supply, plumbing, drainage and sewage sys¬ 
tems, fire protection and sprinkler systems and auxili¬ 
ary apparatus, heating and ventilating systems, power 
and lighting installations, including motors and wir¬ 
ing or shafting, pulleys and belts, mechanical systems 
for the handling and transfer of materials, shop fur¬ 
niture and fixtures, protecting or safety devices and 
the employees' auxiliary service facilities, such as 
locker and rest rooms, luncheon rooms, and so on. 

The one basis for the development of these details 
of construction and equipment must he the “General 
Scheme of Plant Arrangement 99 as finally decided 
upon and as augmented hv the carefully prepared 
“General Plans" defining the arrangement of the 
plant, the location and size of the several buildings 
and departments, and the “Manufacturing Equipment 
Plans" which show the exact location and size of 
every machine and every operating apparatus and 
the routing of the materials, these latter plans being 
supported by the detailed schedules of the require¬ 
ments of each machine in the matter of power, steam, 
water, and what not. 

All of these various subjects have been presented 
in a general way, and some of them in considerable 
detail in the foregoing illustrations of actual develop¬ 
ments and in the discussions of such complete plants 
and of their several forms and types of buildings; 
but an explanatory summation of the main elements 
comprising the buildings may he no less helpful and 
such a statement, of necessity very brief, follows. 

Building Foundations.—It is self evident that all 
structures should he properly supported and that the 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


401 


foundations of all permanent buildings should be 
substantial and fixed, for upon them depends the 
stability and, consequently, the utility and service¬ 
ability of the entire superstructure. 

Foundations for factory buildings are usually not 
difficult either in design or emplacement, for the 
reason that ordinarily the buildings rest upon solid 
ground, the site having been selected with due regard 
for reasonable economy in this respect; furthermore 
the wall and column loads are apt to be relatively 
small. Where, however, the soil is other than rock 
or gravel, or gravel and sand, or very strongly com¬ 
pacted and well “cemented” sand, the problem of the 
proper design and emplacement of the foundations 
may become quite complicated. This is particularly 
true where quicksand, alluvial, or other treacherous 
soils are encountered,—especially if in side hill work 
where there may be a tendency to sliding action. In 
this last instance, if all the foundations are not on the 
same level, the deeper work must be placed first and 
tight sheet piling must be used to prevent any dis¬ 
turbance of the surrounding soil; otherwise it will 
4 6 creep”, and settlements of the upper levels are 
bound to follow. 

The loads which the foundations must support are 
determined from the loads which the floors and roof 
must carry and the weight of the materials entering 
into the construction of the building. In some cases 
the effect of wind pressure must be considered and in 
others the impact from heavy machinery. 

Concrete is the ideal material for building founda¬ 
tions because of its compressive strength and the fact 


402 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


that the materials entering into it are generally read¬ 
ily obtainable. The forms for the work are easily 

w 

built and the pouring or construction of the founda¬ 
tions may be quickly completed. When such founda¬ 
tions are to be placed upon soil whose sustaining 
power per square foot with vertical loading, is equal 
to or greater than the unit superimposed load, their 
dimensions are determined as indicated in the preced¬ 
ing paragraph and they need be carried only to below 
the frost line. But if the superimposed load is greater 
than an equivalent area of soil can sustain, then the 
foundations must be carried to a greater depth, or 
spread footings must be used, or the foundations must 
be carried upon concrete or timber piles penetrating 
the soft stratum sufficiently to support the loads. 

Superstructure Walls.—The walls of factory build¬ 
ings are of three distinct types depending upon the 
form of construction used. These^are the solid bear¬ 
ing wall of one thickness throughout; the use of 
pilaster piers at bearing points with thinner interme¬ 
diate walls; and the skeleton frame with columns or 
piers and curtain walls. While all of these several 
forms of construction have been illustrated in the pre¬ 
ceding chapters, brief emphasis may be made here of 
certain features. 

Brick has long been the favorite material for the 
exterior walls of factory buildings because of its at¬ 
tractive appearance. Where used as solid bearing 
walls the thickness of the brickwork should be suf¬ 
ficient, not only to resist direct crushing stress, but 
also to withstand the tendency to buckle and to afford 
proper resistance to fire. 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


403 


In nearly all our large cities the minimum thickness 
of brick building walls is prescribed by law or ordi¬ 
nance and these requirements are usually of ample 
value for safety. No bearing wall of uniform thick¬ 
ness should be less than twelve inches, even for one 
story buildings. Where such stories are unusually high 
or with clear spans in excess of twenty-five feet, or 
more than one hundred feet long, or contain over 
thirty-three percent of openings, the brickwork should 
be increased in thickness or strengthened by the use 
of pilasters. Where pilasters or wall piers are used 
the intermediate or curtain brick wall may vary from 
a minimum of eight inches to that required depending 
upon width, height and other considerations. Interior 
partition walls may be four inches less in thickness 
than exterior building walls, if not more than fifty 
feet long and twelve feet high, with eight inches as a 
minimum; but where such partition walls are used in 
anv sense as fire division walls they should never be 
less than twelve inches in thickness. 

The strength of brick Avails depends, aside from 
thickness, upon the qualities of materials used and 
upon the way the Avail is built. The brick should be 
hard burned, Avell Avet before being used and laid up 
with cement mortar, bonded at least eA r ery sixth 
course and with eA T ery joint well slushed with mortar. 
Wh ere bricks are used for veneering the concrete sur¬ 
faces of Avail columns or beams they should be tied in 
with metal bonds placed in the forms before the con¬ 
crete is poured. 

Concrete is also extensively used for the Avails of 
factory buildings, but generally as curtain walls be- 


404 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tween the structural members of concrete or steel be¬ 
cause this is the more convenient and cheaper method, 
the skeleton structure being first completed and the 
walls filled in later. Concrete exterior walls should 
not he less than four inches in thickness and may be 
constructed in two general ways. The one method 
employs wood forms and reinforcing steel with the 
concrete cast or poured in place; the other employs 
some one of the several forms of steel-mesh sheathing, 
stiffened by integrally formed rigid ribs, and secured 
at regular intervals to auxiliary structural members 
and then plastered with a cement mortar. When hollow 
walls are desired two layers of such sheathing are 
used, with an air space between the vertical surfaces, 
and both are covered with cement on their exterior 
surfaces. 

Terra cotta tile is often used for exterior curtain 
walls. For this purpose the rough or grooved tile 
blocks are employed when it is desired to finish their 
surfaces with a coating of cement plaster; in other in¬ 
stances smooth faced tile is used without any protect¬ 
ing or finishing coat, and in such cases the dark 
burned tile laid up with red mortar joints to match, 
is preferred. 

Many other materials are used for the sidings of the 
cheaper and more or less temporary buildings, such as 
asbestos corrugated sheathing, asbestos protected 
metal, and the ordinary forms of corrugated sheet 
steel or iron. 

In the case of permanent buildings all the exter ior 
walls should be carried up in the form of a parapet 
to a height of two and one-half or three feet above the 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


405 


roof at all points to afford protection from fire, and 
this is also true of interior division walls that serve in 
any sense as 4 ‘fire walls”. All such walls should be 
capped with a coping of concrete, cut stone, or vitri¬ 
fied tile, and no wood or other combustible materials 
should be used in cornices or other projections. 

Factory Floors.—The choice of floors for mills and 
factories must be governed in each case by the special 
requirements at issue, and this results in a great di¬ 
versity of methods of construction and a wide variety 
of “top” or wearing surfaces, some of which have 
been illustrated in the foregoing discussions of the 
several forms and types of factory buildings. Such 
floors may well be classified broadly, in accordance 
with their various types of wearing surfaces, as earth, 
brick, concrete, wood, and composition floors, and this 
grouping applies to both ground and upper floors. 

The simplest form of ground floor is earth, as used 

in the foundries. Here the under soil is drained and 

overlaid with a bed of sand and gravel or cinders, 

upon which is placed a specially prepared bed of earth 

and clav or a mixture of clav and sand, as the condi- 

tions mav demand. 

%/ 

Brick floors, laid on a substantial concrete base with 
an overbed of sand, are used for the firing floors of 
boiler rooms, for annealing rooms, and in certain sec¬ 
tions of chemical plants where they best meet the de¬ 
mands of such service and at the same time afford the 
advantages of ready renewal. 

Concrete floors with cement or granolithic top finish 
are more generally used for shops and factories than 
any of the other types, for the reason that they are 



T11E FAC TORY BUILDINGS 


4(H) 

easily placed, comparatively durable, cheap in first 
cost, and their maintenance expense is nominal, ex¬ 
cept where subject to unusually heavy traffic and hard 
trucking. But such floors have many disadvantages 
for the average factory, the main objections and de¬ 
fects being a liability to dampness, a tendency to dust 
and pit under traffic, and an entire lack of warmth or 
resiliency, so that they are extremely uncomfortable 
to stand and work on. 

The construction of concrete ground floors involves 
excavation to solid ground, or to a depth sufficient to 
allow the placing of a sub-foundation of six to twelve 
or more inches of well rammed gravel or cinders. 
There is then placed from four to six inches of con¬ 
crete, thoroughly rammed and compacted, the mixture 
being of properly proportioned ingredients and rich¬ 
ness and of such consistency that the moisture will 

* 

just flush to the surface when the concrete is rammed 
in place. The wearing coat of cement and sand, or 
cement and granite screenings, in equal quantities, 
should be mixed rather dry and applied before the 
cement in the concrete base has begun to set. This 
top coat of one to one and a half inches in thickness 
should then be brought to a uniform surface, com¬ 
pressed with a float, and rubbed to a hard troweled 
finish. 

The most satisfactory floors for shops and factories 
in general are those with wood or mastic wearing sur¬ 
faces. Ground floors with wood wearing surfaces are 
constructed in a number of wavs, but the use of wood 
laid in or directly upon cement concrete is to be 
strongly condemned because of its short life. 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


407 


One of the most satisfactory methods of construct¬ 
ing such a floor is first to lay down a concrete base, 
well underdrained, just as would be used for a con¬ 
crete floor, and then cover this with a top coat of one 
and a quarter to two inches of fine gravel and sand, 
heated and thoroughly coated with a mixture of coal 
tar and coal-tar pitch; this layer should then be rolled 
and compacted 'and finished to a true and level surface 
ready to receive the floor plank. Well seasoned plank, 
three-inch hemlock or spruce, may be used for the un¬ 
derfloor, and this should be laid directly upon the soft 
top coat, bedded on it by hammering until the proper 
stability is obtained, and the plank brought to a 
proper level and then toe-nailed together. An over¬ 
floor or wearing surface of % to 1%-inch tongued and 
grooved rock maple should then be placed over the 
plank sub-floor at right angles thereto and securely 
blind-nailed in place with broken joints. 

Wood-block floors laid on a concrete base, with an 
intervening bed of sand, have proven their great 
worth for factory use, and are particularly desirable 
where heavy work or an unusual amount of trucking 
takes place. Such blocks should be made from long 
leaf Southern yellow pine, well manufactured, full 
size, saw butted, all square edges, and of standard 
soundness and grade. They should approximate eight 
inches in length, two or three inches in width and two 
and a half to three inches in depth, but they should 
run uniform to dimensions selected with an allowable 
variation of not more than one-sixteenth inch in depth 
and one-eighth inch in width. 

The blocks should be treated with a pure coal-tar 



408 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


creosote oil by methods effecting thorough penetration 
and in such a manner that when laid and subjected to 
the ordinary heat of the building they will neither 

w 

exude oil nor contract. They should be laid upon a 
one-half inch bed of sand spread over the concrete 
sub-base; the alignment should be true and the blocks 
should be swept with clean, fine and perfectly dry 
sand until all points are thoroughly filled; or it bitu¬ 
minous joints are desired, they should be poured with 
a hot bituminous filler until completely filled. 

Mastic floors are coming more and more into gen¬ 
eral use because of their superior physical advantages, 
their reasonable first cost and their low maintenance 
expense. These floors are simply “top” floors with 
wearing surfaces of materials which may be placed in 
plastic form without joints, and at the same time are 
elastic, dustless, quiet, impervious to water and mois¬ 
ture and will withstand hard wear. 

Such floors are best when laid upon a concrete or 
cement finished base, but they may be satisfactorily 
applied to wood or other sub-floors. They are made 
of a variety of materials, but for general factory use 
those with an asphaltum base and containing a large 
content of flue crushed stone, such as Johns-Manville 
“Mastic”, which is laid with a thickness of from one 
to one and a half inches, have proven the most satis¬ 
factory. For office buildings and other departments 
of the factory where the traffic is lighter, some of the 
composition floors have great merit. 

The construction of factory upper floors, particular¬ 
ly their structural characteristics, has been illustrated 
in the discussions of the various forms and types of 



DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


409 


factory building’s. The wearing surfaces of such floors 
may be of cement top finish, or hardwood on a plank 
underfloor supported by girders or nailed to spiking 
strips bolted to steel beams or to stringers set in the 
concrete, or wood block, or some one of the mastic 
surfaces; and their methods of application closely 
follow those just discussed. 

Roofs and Roof Covering.—The three forms of roof 
decks used most generally for permanent factory 
buildings are heavy plank, reinforced cinder concrete, 
and reinforced gypsum,—the first being supported by 
timber or steel trusses or framing and the latter two 
preferably and usually by reinforced concrete or steel 
structural framing. 

These and other types of roof framing, roof decks, 
and roof covering are shown in the several cross-sec¬ 
tions of typical forms of buildings in the preceding 
chapters. For the mill construction or slow-burning 
type of building the heavy tongued and grooved plank 
deck is probably the best. This, if supported by tim¬ 
bers of large cross-sectional area, protected by a 
sprinkler system and covered by a standard specifica¬ 
tion tar and gravel roofing, is generally regarded as 
safelv fire resistant and durable, with a reasonable 
first cost and low maintenance expense. 

The cinder concrete roof supported by structural 
members of reinforced concrete and covered with a 
standard specification tar and gravel roofing, is with¬ 
out doubt the most fire-proof and permanent of all the 
several types of construction. Next in order is the 
same type of deck -supported by structural steel fram¬ 
ing or trusses. But both of these roofs are compara- 



410 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tively liigli in first cost though the least expensive of 
all to maintain. 

The gypsum roof deck—a poured slab, reinloreed 
with steel cables—has many of the advantages ot the 
concrete roof and is of much less weight, thereby af¬ 
fording a substantial economy in the supporting 
structural steel members. It has almost perfect non- 
conductivitv and therefore works a reduction in heat 

w 

loss and the elimination of condensation. It is prac¬ 
tically fireproof and withstands severe and constant 
vibration without cracking. Such a roof deck pro¬ 
tected with a standard specification tar and gravel 
covering is reasonable in first cost and very durable, 
with a minimum of upkeep expense. 

There are many other forms of roof decks and roof 
coverings, such as corrugated steel with or without 
protective coatings, corrugated asbestos, and tile and 
gypsum which may be supported by the roof purlins 
and sub-purlins. Or slate, tile, tin and other cover¬ 
ings, such as any of the many composition roofings, 
may be used over a sheathing or deck of plank or 
concrete. 

For the permanent factory building one of the first 
three mentioned forms of roof deck and covering will 
prove the most satisfactory; and wherever it is feasi- 
. hie the building walls should be carried up as para¬ 
pets, the roof flashing being built into the walls and 
drainage being through inside cast-iron leaders sub¬ 
stantially connected to the roof deck. 

There is no better roof covering than a substantial 
five-plv felt and pitch and gravel, or slag, roofing laid 
in accordance with the “Barrett Standard Twenty- 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


411 



Concrete 


Gravel 




Concrete Roof Slab 


•5&S! 


[Three Plies 
B 5. Felt 


FIG. 156 . CONSTRUCTION OF TWENTY-YEAR GUARANTEE 

SPECIFICATION ROOFING 


Year Guarantee Specification” with the use of “Flex 
Lock” flashing and “Holt” roof and leader connect¬ 
ors; and this type and method has been adopted as a 
standard by many of the largest industrial concerns 
in the country. 

An example of this “Standard Specification” for 
the covering of a concrete roof deck is illustrated in 
Figure 156, and is as follows where the roof slope 
does not exceed one inch per foot: 






































412 


THE FACTORV BUILDINGS 


1. The roof deck shall bo smooth, firm, dry, properly 
graded to outlets and free from loose material. 

2. Coat the concrete uniformly with “ Specification” 
pitch. 

3. Over the entire surface lay two plies of “Specifica¬ 
tion” tarred felt, lapping each sheet 17 inches over pre¬ 
ceding one, mopping with “ Specification ' ’ pitch the full 17 
inches on each sheet, so that in no place shall felt touch felt. 

4. Coat the entire surface uniformly with “Specification' 
pitch. 

5. Over the entire surface lay three plies of “Specifica¬ 
tion” tarred felt, lapping each sheet 22 inches over preced¬ 
ing one, mopping with “Specification” pitch the full 22 
inches on each sheet, so that in no place shall felt touch felt. 

6. Over the entire surface pour from a dipper a uniform 
coating of “Specification” pitch, into which, while hot, em¬ 
bed not less than 400 pounds of gravel or 300 pounds of 
slag for each 100 square feet. The gravel or slag shall be 
from *4 to % inch in size, dry and free from dirt. 

7. The felt shall be laid without wrinkles or buckles. Not 
less than 225 pounds of pitch shall be used for constructing 
each 500 square’ feet of completed roof, and the pitch shall 
not be heated above 400° Fahr. 

8. The roof shall be applied by a roofing contractor ap¬ 
proved by The Barrett Company. He shall furnish The Bar¬ 
rett Company’s Surety Bond Guaranty issued by the l T . S. 
Fidelity and Guaranty Co., of Baltimore, covering a period 
of twenty years from date of completion. 

The “Flex-Lock” flashing, made up of Toncan 
metal and tarred felt, should be installed before the 
surface coating of pitch and gravel or slag is ap¬ 
plied to the roof, and if the parapet walls are of brick 
this should be applied as follows: 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


413 


1. The mortar shall be raggled out between bricks to a 
depth of 1 14 " on a line not more than 9" nor less than 6" 
above the roof level. 

2. O 11 all vertical surfaces where Flex-Lock flashing is to 
be installed, the first two plies of felt used in constructing 
the roof shall extend up the vertical surfaces to the raggle 
opening, and there shall be cut and set in separately three 
plies of felt cemented solidly together and to the underlying 
felt with pitch. These three plies of felt shall extend up to 
the raggle opening, shall extend out on the roof not less than 
4", and shall be nailed at the top every 8 ". 

3. Over the vertical surface of the felt, spread a layer of 
“Elastigum ”, and fill the raggle opening with “Elastigum”. 

4. Immediately following this, while the 11 Elastigum ’ ’ is 
in a plastic condition, install the metal edge of the Flex-Lock 
flashing into the raggle opening and securely fasten in place 
with twenty-penny cut nails, spaced not more than 3 feet 
apart. The downwardly extending portion of the flashing 
shall then be cut off at the angle of the roof deck and verti¬ 
cal surfaces and shall be thoroughly embedded in the under¬ 
lying “Elastigum”. 

5. Coat the exposed metal and point up the raggle point 
with “Elastigum”. 

6 . All vertical laps shall be not less than 6 " wide and 
sealed with “Elastigum”. 

Tlie “Holt” leader connector and outlet is made en¬ 
tirely of copper and cast iron, and provides, with its 
roof lock fittings and expansion joint device, a strong 
and flexible connection for the support of the roof 
leaders, thus preventing leaks around the outlets due 
to the settling of the roof deck or to the expansion 
and contraction of the leader lines to which the ordi¬ 
nary sheet metal outlet boxes are subject. The con- 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


414 



G 

OlMtl I'umt mrm 

k*«. Seen** lot, M 

kr , J of Ulh 


II 


DnMt MiilunM 
wd dn| m too J 
nontint 


1 

Doubt* «nkrti«( 
and dnp tl bottoto 
of naiJim 
Not* *ttp hoi* fat 
diunit* of condut- 
tattoo 


M antin' 




pUtrd at th* pt*ota and ataut* ton* 
trol of both *o»l>lato*» to ali(funrn|. 



D 


C 


Sam* d*tad at B and C. hot tain btiott ntoota, ohrr* >ot n »o 
’ of o*ath*ftn< mtmtxf, Socttua W, it nMnod. 



F 

Standard MuIIkxi, S*f t*oo t ifc. nth 
Stttion ioi. uttd a* jamb mttttbotf 
of tatb on rnbct ttd*. 



FIG. 157 . DETAILS OF STEEL WINDOW SASH 


struction of this connector and the materials used in 
its make-up insure its lasting service. 

Windows, Skylights and Ventilators.—When it be¬ 
came the general belief that the health of individuals 
depended very largely upon an abundance of fresh air 
and sunlight, then came the demand for a maximum 
of daylight and ventilation in the factory and this led 
to the development of the steel window sash which 
has made possible the enormous glass and ventilating 
areas of the modern factory building. 

Steel sash as constructed todav embodies the ele- 
ments of strength, durability, resistance to fire, and 
an attractive appearance. Tt has replaced wooden 
sash with its heavy members and inflammable mate¬ 
rials and has become an essential feature o £ the con- 






























































































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


415 


struction of modern industrial buildings, as may be 
evidenced by reference to the preceding illustrations 
of such modern plants, where many applications of 
several types of sash have been shown. A typical 
unit of standard side wall sash is illustrated in Figure 
157. 

In the typical 6 ‘Underwriters’’ sash, as approved 
for tire-proofed stairways and passageways, the ven¬ 
tilating section of the window is held in an open posi¬ 
tion by means of a fusible link chain and the frame of 
this unit is so weighted that when released by the 
fusing of the link it immediately closes. The sash is 
glazed with wire glass. 

Continuous sash, for either roof-monitor or side wall 
lighting and ventilation affords the greatest effective 
ventilating area in proportion to sash area and it may 
be very easily and quickly opened and closed, in large 
areas, by simple operating mechanism. Of all the 
types of such continuous sash the top hung sash is the 
best because it is weather proof when open, thus giv¬ 
ing ventilation regardless of outside conditions. 

Several applications of this type of sash were shown 
in the chapters discussing the general design of the 
factory buildings, but an additional illustration of the 
extent to which such sash is used and some of the de¬ 
tails of its setting are noted in Figure 158, showing 
the application of the “Lupton” type controlled and 
operated by the “Pond” operating device. In its 
simplest form a hand chain is used to operate a worm 
and gear which, by means of a sprocket, imparts 
lengthwise motion to a pair of tension rods connected 
at their far ends to a chain running over an idler, and 


416 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 158 . VENTILATING SASH IN A LARGE FOUNDRY 
Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoflf, Architects 

thrust is exerted through the compound lever arms 
attached to the rods and the lower member of the 
sash. The worm and gear are enclosed in an oil-tight 
















DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


417 




FIG. 159. SKYLIGHTS AT THE WILLYS-OYERLAND PLANT 


case and the hinged connections of the lever arms are 
bushed with phosphor bronze. 

For vertical sash in longer lines than one hundred 
feet, or sloping sash of more than fifty feet, spirals 
and counter-weights are used in place of the plain 
idlers at the far ends of the lines; these apply suffi¬ 
cient force to balance the weight of the sasli so that 
the pull on the hand chain need be only that required 
to overcome the friction resisting movement. 




















418 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 160. ALL-METAL, GLAZED SKYLIGHT WITH 
VENTILATOR SASH 


For unusually long lines, or for the simultaneous 
operation of a number of connected lines, the motor- 
operated device, with automatic cut-out limits and 
controlled by a conveniently placed hand switch, is 
the proper operating device to use. 

When roof lighting and ventilation is required for 
flat roofed buildings or where the saw tooth, or large 
monitor type roof is not used, or where additional 
light and ventilation are required, resort must be had 




^ * •• o* C 

FIG. 161. ALL-METAL SKYLIGHT WITH TURRET VENTmATORS 



























































































419 



DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


FIG. 162. SKYLIGHTS IN SHIPPING DEPARTMENT OF FORD PLANT 

to skylights and ventilators. For this purpose the 
Pond “A” frame represents one of the best type-s of 
the long continuous ventilating skylights as indicated 
in Figure 159; this shows both the exterior and in¬ 
terior views of such skylights as used at the Willys- 
Overland factory. 

Where smaller areas of roof light are required the 
plain, all metal, hipped skylight may be used; but if 
additional ventilation as well as light is required the 
hipped turret type all metal skylight with louvre or 
glazed side ventilating sash operated by gearing and 
rods or chains should be installed. The former type of 
skylight but with glazed side is shown in Figure 160, 
while Figure 161 shows the application of the turret 


























420 


Till*; FACTORY BUILDINGS 


type, in fairly long runs, to a dye house and made in a 
■way conforming to the Fire Underwriters require¬ 
ments for the “slow-burning’’ type of timber and 
plank roof. 

There are times when roof lighting in large areas 
without the need of additional ventilation is essential, 
as in the instance of the Ford Shipping Building il¬ 
lustrated in Figure 162. In this case two “Lupton” 
rolled steel skylights, of the double pitch type are 
used to light the six floors of the building; these sky¬ 
lights are eight hundred feet long and twenty-three 
feet wide on each slope. In this type of skylight all 
metals exposed to the weather are non-corroding; the 
glass is set, without putty, between resilient cushions 
of stranded oakum and special methods are provided 
for carrying off condensation which eliminate the or¬ 
dinarily used, but troublesome gutters. 

Where auxiliary roof ventilation is required for 
special machines or processes, individual ventilation 
of the types shown in Figure lb3 may be used. Fig¬ 
ure 163-B illustrates the ordinary type of exhaust 
ventilator, provided with a glass top; this operates by 
the difference of interior and exterior air conditions. 
Figure 163-A shows the “Larson" syphon ventilator 
with revolving head; by the action of the wind on the 
vane the outlet always faces leeward and the air cur¬ 
rents, passing through the back tapering tube, induce, 
by their syphon action, an upward draft in the ven¬ 
tilator sleeve and thus assist exhaust action. The 
“ Swart wout” rotary, ball-bearing, suction ventilator, 
Figure 163-C, is one of the most effective type; be¬ 
cause of its construction it always faces away from 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


421 



FIG. 163. TYPES OF VENTILATORS 

the wind and the free power of the breeze creates an 
active suction at the mouth of the ventilator which 
pulls out a steady flow of air from below and this 
makes but one turn in its passage and escape. The 
framework of the ventilator is built up of galvanized 
angles and this is covered by rust resisting galvanized 
iron or copper. The discharge head revolves on a 
large ball-bearing, thus being perfectly balanced and 
frictionless in operation; the discharge opening is con¬ 
trolled by storm-proof louvres operated from within 
by chain and pulley. 


















42‘J 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Factory Doors.—The prime essentials of factory 
doors are strength and durability, ease of operation, 
and protection against weather, drafts and fire. Be¬ 
ing required for the closure of openings used for a 
great variety of purposes, there is necessarily a de¬ 
mand for many differing types and sizes. Notwith¬ 
standing their many variable requirements, factory 
doors have become somewhat standardized, at least in 
the matter of the more general types which have been 
approved by long and extended use. 

The type of door most widely used for the openings 
of factory walls is the three-ply wood core, tin clad, 
sliding panel, hung by trolley wheels from an over¬ 
head rail and so counterbalanced as to close automati¬ 
cally and slowly after opening or, if left open, to close 
automatically in ease of fire by the parting of a fusi¬ 
ble link. Examples of this door, which is known as 
the “Underwriters’’ type, are illustrated in several 
designs as approved by the National Board of Fire 
Underwriters as affording a maximum of protection 
against fire damage. 

Figure 164 illustrates the standard single-slide fire 
door with inclined track and counterweights to ease 
its opening and, with the breaking of the fusible link, 
to effect its closing automatically. Figure 165 shows 
the same type of door with level track, which is used 
where there is not sufficient head room to place the 
track on an incline of three-quarters of an inch per 
foot. In this case two sets of weights are used to 
balance the door, the back weights being held by a 
fusible link which on breaking allows the front 
weights to pull the door shut. 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


423 



FIGS. 164 AND 165. AUTOMATIC FIRE DOORS—SINGLE SLIDE 

Double sliding doors of this same type are illus¬ 
trated in Figure 166, and these are used to meet the 
special conditions of an unusually wide opening, or 
when there is not sufficient pocket room on either side 
of the opening for a single door, or when an overhead 
















































424 


TIIK FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 166. AUTOMATIC FIRE DOOR—DOUBLE SLIDE 

trolley or other carrier system track passes through 
the opening; this type has counterweights and a fusi¬ 
ble link on each door, exposed in the opening. 


The standard single swing fire door is shown in Fig¬ 
ure 1G7 and the double swing in Figure 168. These 
loot's are counterweighted and the automatic link and 
ord arrangement extends above the opening to a 
point near the ceiling. Particular attention is called 
'o the substantial hardware used on these doors 
which, as manufactured by the Richards-Wilcox Com¬ 
pany, is representative of the most satisfactory type 
cf such hardware for factory use. When swing doors 
are used it is good practice to set these in an angle- 
iron frame of the rabetted type with a corbelled sill 
between the wood floors and two departments. 

Instances sometimes arise in which slide or swing 
doors cannot be used for the closure of openings be¬ 
cause of obstructions to their operation, and in such 
cases a vertical-balance sliding fire door is recoin- 

















DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


425 



FIGS. 167 AND 168. SINGLE AND DOUBLE-SWING FIRE DOORS 


mended. Such fire-doors and fixtures are made to act 
by gravity and close automatically with the parting of 
the fusible link. Two or three sets of weights are 
used; the fusible link supporting the lighter weight, 
while the heavy counter-balance weights are attached 
by wire cable to the top of the door; these latter are 
adjusted to prevent sudden dropping of the door and 
to insure its slow closing when the fire link fuses and 
releases the lighter weights. 

For the protection of openings in interior walls, 
where for various reasons it is not desirable to have 
the opening closed except in case of fire, or for ele¬ 
vator shafts where the only accessible light may be 
from the wall openings on the several floors, the Wil¬ 
son rolling steel fire door may be used. This is made 
of continuous corrugated steel, self-coiling, spring 
balanced and equipped with a fusible link to close 
automatically in case of fire. It may be raised or low¬ 
ered by hand without interfering with the spring re- 




















426 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 169. ROLLING STEEL FIRE DOOR 

lease device which operates only in case of fire. When 
used for elevators the openings to the elevator shaft 
must, of course, be protected by mesh or other form 
of gate. 

This same tvpe of rolling door mav be used for verv 
large openings and is quite generally installed in 
freight stations, railroad shops and factory shipping 
rooms requiring openings of large area or a continued 
series of adjoining shipping openings, as illustrated in 
Figure 169. In such installations the doors may be 
operated singly by hand chains and gears or inde¬ 
pendently or in groups by electrical motor mechanism. 

It is noted, in regard to elevator openings, that the 
best practice demands such design as will provide for 
















DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


427 



FIG. 170. COUNTERBALANCED AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR DOORS 

their fire-proof closure at all times other than when in 
actual use, and one of the best types of such approved 
doors is the “Peele” counterbalanced “truckable” 
door as approved by the Underwriters. This is a 
wood core, tin clad, vertically sliding door made in 
two sections meeting horizontally. Figure 170 shows 
a set of these doors, seventeen feet wide and thirteen 
feet high, installed in the factory of the New Process 
Gear Company. 

These doors may be manually operated and equipped 
with automatic interlocking devices which prevent the 
elevator car from leaving the floor until all doors are 
closed and locked; or they may be opened by hand 








428 


TI1E FACTOKY WILDINGS 


and equipped with automatic closing and locking de¬ 
vices; or they may be made entirely automatic and 
equipped with all the required safety devices. 

As the doors open, the two sections slide vertically 
in opposite directions, and the top of the lower sec¬ 
tion, equipped with a trucking bar, rests upon solid 
stops which hold this bar or sill in rigid alignment 
with the elevator car and building sill, thus present¬ 
ing a smooth surface to truck wheels. This type of 
door may also be made of corrugated iron or of 
kalamein construction with solid or wire glass panels, 

or thev mav be made with steel frames and all wire- 
•> » 

mesh panels for use as safety gates where auxiliary 
curtain or rolling steel doors are used as a protection 
against fire. 

Where elevator door openings extending from floor 
to ceiling are required for special purposes or where 
for some reason the heights from floors to ceilings 
are low, the “pass” type of door may be used. In 
this case the panels are not mounted one directly 
above the other but are staggered and run on sepa¬ 
rate guides, so that the upper panel may thus pass 
the lower panel of the door above, the lower panel 
likewise lapping the upper panel of the door on the 
floor below. 

A good type of exterior swing double doors is the 
Lupton steel tube door, with 12-gauge steel lower 
panels and upper panel glazed with wire glass, and 
having hinges of heavy steel with bronze bushings 
and the locks of the master-keyed cylinder type with 
strong level handles set in the stile. These doors are 
also made in the single-swing and sliding forms, and 



DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


429 



FIGS. 171 AND 1/2. 


EXTERIOR SLIDING STEEL DOORS 


where the latter are of unusual size they may be 
equipped with convenient wicket doors. 

A very excellent arrangement of exterior steel 
doors in combination with steel sash is the “United” 
sliding double-door unit shown in Figure 171. A 
good example of “Fenestra” swinging double doors, 
integral with side wall steel window sash, is shown 
in the illustration of the shipping building of the 
Morgan and Wright plant in Figure 172. 

















































430 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 173. CANOPY ENTRANCE FOR POWER HOUSE 


There are many types of canopy, bi-folding, and 
other doors especially designed for the unusual needs 
that sometimes arise in factory requirements; but it 
is impossible to discuss these here other than to 
show a typical example of such a need. In this par¬ 
ticular instance it was desired to provide a large 
emergency entrance and exit to a power house and at 
the same time provide an easily operated entrance 
door for general use, the whole to be architecturally 
in keeping with the building itself. A view of this 
entrance, which is 12 feet wide and 14 feet high, is 
shown in Figure 173. 









































































































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


431 


Stairways and Elevator Shafts.—Many of the pre¬ 
ceding discussions and illustrations have suggested 
the importance of conveniently locating the stairways 
and elevators of the multi-story factory building and 
have shown approved methods of construction for the 
stairway and elevator shafts or towers; but some of 
the structural features may well be emphasized. 

All stairways in multi-storied buildings should be 
enclosed and the enclosures should take the form of a 
shaft, rather than to be individual for each flight of 
stairs, so that persons will not be required to enter 
upon the floor of each story of the building in going 
up or down stairs. Figure 174 illustrates these two 
forms of enclosure. The partial enclosures of the 
third and fourth floor stairways may prevent the up¬ 
ward spread of fire, but persons coming down have 
no protection from fire in passing through each 
story to exit from the building; the complete en¬ 
closures of the first and second floors with their auto¬ 
matically closing doors and direct connection to the 
exterior exit of the building afford fairly good pro¬ 
tection from smoke and fire. 

The protection afforded by totally enclosed stair¬ 
ways is of course vastly augmented when such en¬ 
closing shafts are fireproof both in form and mate¬ 
rials of construction; but when such shafts are di¬ 
rectly connected to the building even they, owing to 
fire or smoke, may become impassable to all persons 
above any floor on which a door is open. This form 
of enclosure and exit has, however, long been the 
standard in the best types of factory buildings and 
is to be recommended except in those buildings of 




























































































































































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


433 


several stories in height where many employees are 
engaged on each floor or where extra hazardous opera¬ 
tions are carried on. The essential features are:— 

1. Walls should be of brick, tile, or concrete, and self-sup¬ 
porting except in fire-resistant buildings. 

2. Doors should swing with the direction of travel or slide 
across it,—that is, into the shaft except at point of exit where 
they should swing outward. No locks should be used on the 
tower doors and only a “panic” lock on main exit doors. 

3. The stairs should be broad with easy rise and tread 
and free from winders; with landings as deep as the stair 
width except at door openings where they should be one foot 
greater. They preferably should be constructed of non-com¬ 
bustible materials with ‘ ‘ safety ’ ’ treads. 

4. Continuous railings should be provided preferably on 
both sides of the stairs and also in the center where the 
width is such as to require them. These should be of the 
standard gaivanized-iron pipe rail type, rigidly supported. 

5. In many locations the stairs should be carried to the 
roof of the building and a ventilating monitor type of skylight 
used to afford both light and the escape of smoke which may 
enter the shaft. Preferably no windows should be used on 
interior shafts where the stairways are primarily fire escapes, 
but if so used they should be fixed steel sash, double glazed 
with wire glass. The enclosure of stairways for general use 
may embody large glass areas using steel sash and wire glass. 

6. The stairs should be properly lighted at each story and 
the lamps should be on a separate circuit direct from the 
switchboard with all wiring in conduit. Preferably they 
should be so arranged that all lights may be turned on from 
switches conveniently located at each floor and an illuminated 
“exit” sign should be placed over the stairway door on each 
floor. 


434 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 176. NON-SLIP SAFETY STAIR TREADS 


For buildings of several stories in height and par¬ 
ticularly where a considerable number of operatives 
are employed on each floor or where the materials of 
manufacture are more than ordinarily hazardous the 
“smoke-proof” stair tower of one of the types illus¬ 
trated in Figure 175 is preferred. These diagrams are 
really self-explanatory, but it may be observed that 
the chief advantages of such types of shafts over all 
others are a really safe exit cut off from fire and 
smoke, a safe location for a water supply standpipe, 
and a sure means of reaching any floor on which fire 
has broken out,—all of which are elements of the 
greatest importance in the design of the several storied 
factory building. 

Many methods have been employed for constructing 
the stairs themselves and a variety of materials are 
employed for stringers, risers and treads; but frame¬ 
works of steel, unprotected, are not fireproof, and the 
most satisfactory stairs for the factor}" are reinforced 
concrete with seven to eight inch risers and ten to 






















• DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 435 

twelve inch treads finished with “Feralun” or other 
non-slip safety tread as shown in Figure 176 and in 
detailed cross section in two forms of treads in Figure 
177. Properly designed the reinforced concrete stairs 
may be very economically constructed and the ad¬ 
vantages of such construction are too obvious to need 
further discussion. 

Elevator shafts or towers should be constructed in 
a manner somewhat along the same lines specified for 



. FIG. 177. SECTIONS OF SAFETY TREADS 

fire-proof stair enclosures; the details of the elevator 
pit well, and pent house depending upon the partic¬ 
ular elevator to be used. The one universally satisfac¬ 
tory elevator for factory use is the electric-operated 
machine of the Otis type and no other should be 
used except to meet unusual and special conditions. A 
number of the illustrations of plant layouts as dis¬ 
cussed in the earlier chapters of this book indicate 
some of the favorable locations of elevators with re¬ 
spect to the buildings and departments they serve and 
the effective combination of stair, elevator and toilet 
towers in one exterior well. 














436 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Where unusual precautions are required for safety 
against fire the elevator towers and stairways may be 
constructed somewhat as shown in Figure 178; the 
upper sketch shows an inside fire and smoke proof 
tower and the lower an exterior tower, both serving 
two adjoining buildings,—methods often followed 



Suirway-lower Inside o( Storehouse 



FIG. 178. FIREPROOF STAIR ANI) ELEVATOR TOWERS 


in connection with several storied warehouses. With 
these types of stairway and elevator towers both the 
stairs and elevators need be enclosed only with guard 
rails and the addition of guard gates for the latter 
while with the generally used elevator shaft all open¬ 
ings to the building should be protected with automat¬ 
ically self-closing fire-doors. 

Factory Partitions.—The main division walls of a 
factory building should be carried up through and 
above the roof of the building as parapets and they 
should be capped with concrete, stone or vitrified tile 

























































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


437 


in order to serve as fire protection or cut-off walls. 
Interior factory partitions may be of solid concrete, 
brick, hollow tile, wire mesh and cement plaster, or 
with any combination of these, or steel plate, in the 
form of a panel or wainscoat, three or four feet high, 
with steel sash above,—glazed preferably with wire 
glass, using clear glass only in the partitions within 
the office sections of the building. Stock and tool 
room partitions, where such are located within the 
central parts of the building may well be enclosed 
with a steel plate wainscoting and heavy diamond 
mesh upper panels. Wood wainscoting with wood 
sash or framing should not be used for factory par¬ 
titions. 

Where any of the factory division or partition 
walls are to serve in any sense as fire cut-offs, they 
should be of concrete, brick, or tile, with fire-doors 
and with as few window openings between rooms as 
possible; and when any such window openings are 
used they should be closed with fixed steel sash 
glazed with factory-ribbed or other heavy wire glass. 
If it is essential that such windows be kept open to 
afford proper ventilation, they should be equipped 
with fusible link, automatically-closing Underwriters 
sash. 

It is not necessarv to discuss further the construe- 
tion of concrete, brick, or tile partitions, but it may 
be worth while to illustrate the use of steel partitions 
which are coming into wide use because of their 
many advantages over all other forms for certain 
purposes. 

Figure 179 shows the use of a steel framed partition 


438 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIGS. 179 AND 180. TWO EXAMPLES OF STEEL PARTITION 


with expanded-metal cement-plastered floor and ceil¬ 
ing panels and “Fenestra” steel sash units, with steel 
plate doors, in one of the factor} 7 offices of the Dodge 
Brothers plant. Figure 180 illustrates the use of 












































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


439 


“Fenestra” steel partition in the Brown and Biglow 
plant to provide a wide corridor for the travel of em¬ 
ployees and enclose the adjoining stock and work 
rooms; this partition is made up of standard sections 
with plate top and bottom panels and intermediate 
sash glazed with clear glass. 

Factory Lighting.—The advantages of a good work¬ 
ing light in the industrial plant are so generally 
known that few question its economic necessity. Ade¬ 
quate lighting, whether natural or artificial, is one of 
the greatest aids in the maintenance of high efficiency 
of production throughout the entire working period. 
Poor lighting, insufficient or ineffective, is the cause 
of unnecessary fatigue and injury, innumerable acci¬ 
dents, inaccuracy in workmanship resulting in de¬ 
fective work and spoiled goods; and it tends to wither 
the spirit of cheerfulness, alertness and good intent 
which is really the greatest counter-irritant to low 
productive output and high production expense. 

Good lighting is the very antithesis of all this in ef¬ 
fect and is a stimulant to one’s subconscious will 
which influences one’s ability and williness to work 
and it is upon this that the efficiency of all individuals 
is dependent. 

Natural Lighting.—The best and cheapest light is 
natural light (sunlight) properly diffused throughout 
the working areas; and this has not only been one of 
the prime factors leading to the development of the 
modern factory building, but it is also recognized as 
one of the controlling elements in its design. It is 
this that limits the width of multi-story factory build¬ 
ings wherein manufacturing operations are carried on, 


440 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


establishes the heights from floors to ceilings, fixes the 
area and position of window sash, and controls the 
selection of the glass required for a uniform distribu¬ 
tion of such light. Its influence is no less in the 
proper design of the one-storv factor}' building with 
its great extent of floor area and great expanse of 
overhead or roof lighting. 

The several studies and discussions of typical, mod¬ 
ern factory buildings presented show that an abun¬ 
dance of natural light is sought with a tendency to¬ 
ward the possible maximum. They also indicate how 
this is obtained and it may be emphasized that, par¬ 
ticularly with side wall lighting, the matter of glazing 
and the cleanliness of windows must have equal 
thought and attention; for, no matter how great the 
glass area, the illumination will be uneven throughout 
the rooms unless the light is properly diffused; and its 
intensity will be greatly reduced unless the glass area 
is kept free from dust and smoke. 

Even distribution of light, that is proper diffusion, 
mav be obtained by the use of some one of the stan- 

W w 

dard forms of factory ribbed or prism glass which are 
translucent and whose surface consists of a series of 
prisms, so arranged as to project the light rays in 
more or less horizontal planes tending to equalize the 
illumination of near and remote areas. Tt is neither 
necessary nor wise, however, to use translucent glass 
to the exclusion of clear glass; for an efficient ribbed 
or prism glass has both a greater first cost and main¬ 
tenance expense in the matter of cleaning. The use of 
translucent glass in the lower sash of side wall win¬ 
dows of work rooms is not recommended, because it is 


441 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 

objectionable to the workers as shutting off their view 
of anything exterior to the work room, thus depriving 
them ot what is really a relief to eye strain; it aggra¬ 
vates their feeling of confinement and, in some in¬ 
stances of fine work done at benches very close to the 
windows, it proves too intense. 

Because of the value of clean glass and the conse¬ 
quent necessity of cleaning the large extent of glass 
used, one should not neglect the provision of facilities 
for doing this work, and in the instance of a multi¬ 
story building the necessary safety devices for clean- 
ers, such as hooks for scaffolds or safety belts should 
be provided. 

In order to secure a maximum dispersion of good 
light it is essential that the interior of the buildings, 
both walls and ceilings, be painted a light color,— 
preferably white, using some one of the standard in¬ 
terior paints made especially for this purpose, such as 
Rice’s “Mill White” or Detroit Graphite “Sta- 
White”, applying it in two or three coats, the finish¬ 
ing coat to be a hard, glossed surface that will not 
hold dust and will withstand frequent washings. The 
side walls and columns may be painted a gray or 
fairly dark green color for a height of as much as 
three or four feet to insure a permanently neat ap¬ 
pearance; and much of the machinery might well be 
painted an attractive and utilitarian shade of gray or 
other light color rather than the conventional black 
which absorbs so much light and reduces the effective¬ 
ness of both natural and artificial light. 

To obtain the full advantages of an abundant supply 
of side wall light it is important that machines, work 


442 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tables and benches be so placed that the operators do 
not face the light but rather work at right angles 
thereto, for a continued facing to the source of light 
engenders severe eye strain and fatigue. The improp¬ 
er relation of machines and workers to the source of 
light is shown in Figure *181; the proper relation is il¬ 
lustrated in Figure 182, and with this latter arrange¬ 
ment of machines and benches the workmen neither 
face the light nor do they work in their own shadows. 

Artificial Lighting.—Practically all of our manu¬ 
facturing plants now operate a really appreciable por¬ 
tion of the time, taking the year as a whole, in non¬ 
daylight hours, and these after-dark conditions have 
presented some very trying problems with their gen¬ 
eral decrease in production, increase in spoilage of 
work and multiplication of accidents to the workers,— 
all due largely, if not entirely, to insufficient light. 

The well informed know that these conditions need 
not exist and that they may be completely overcome 
by the installation of a proper lighting system, one 
that provides adequate illumination—not only plenty 
of light, that is correct in intensity, but of proper 
direction and diffusion without glare and specular re¬ 
flection. In other words the “correct light’’ for the 
factory is one of such intensity that all operators may 
work without eye strain due either to insufficiency or 
over-brilliancy of the light; and such light must be 
not only well diffused, thus eliminating sharp shadows, 
but it must also be free from flicker and glare; it must 
be of a good color and the lighting units -should either 
be placed above or without the range of the workers’ 
vision or else protected by diffusing elements. 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


443 



FIGS. 181 AND 182. IMPROPER AND PROPER ARRANGEMENTS FOR 

NATURAL LIGHTING 

The lighting requirements of factories vary greatly 
with the nature and class of their work. In general a 
foundry will need less light than a machine shop and 
a machine shop on rough work less than the factory 
engaged in, say, fine watch making. Furthermore dif- 



















444 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ferent work and different departments in the same 
factor}’ require totally different degrees of illumina¬ 
tion, as in textile mills, where weaving requires twice 
the intensity of illumination that carding does, and 
inspection twice or more than that essential to weav¬ 
ing; while in the same department the same degree of 
illumination is not necessary in aisles and passages jis 
on the work itself. 

There is therefore a wide range of generally ac¬ 
cepted intensities of illumination for the factory; but 
there can be, however, no arbitrary statement of ex¬ 
actly what such intensities should be in any one par¬ 
ticular instance, because the immediately surrounding 
conditions, such as height and form of ceiling, color 
of walls and ceiling, and of machinery and work, and 
the presence or absence of overhead shafting and belts 
and similar physical conditions, very materially effect 
the lighting requirements. Nevertheless the tables of 
general “intensity requirements’’ issued by some of 
the National Illuminating Associations may serve as 
very useful guides in that they represent current prac¬ 
tice in those plants where efficient lighting has been 
carefully studied and in some instances very effective¬ 
ly carried out. These intensities of illumination vary 
from a minimum of one-half foot-candle at the floor, 
which insures sufficient illumination to enable the 
workers to move about safely, to a maximum of fif¬ 
teen foot-candles required for engraving and other 
very fine bench work. 

Systems of Lighting.—There are four general meth¬ 
ods or systems employed in factory lighting;—general 
illumination, localized general illumination, entirely 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


445 


localized lighting and localized lighting combined 
with general illumination. 

Where the nature of the work and the form of 
building permits a system of general illumination is 
always preferable, for when correctly applied this af¬ 
fords many advantages over all others. This system 
employs a spacing of lighting units symmetrical with 
ceiling bays, with the units hung quite high above the 
floor so that interference with workmen and resulting 
liability of breakage is eliminated. Reflectors are 
used for the diffusion of the light and these should be 
of such a tvpe as to afford an even intensity of il- 
lumination on the working plane which may be three 
feet or thereabouts above the floor. An excellent ex¬ 
ample of the system of general illumination is shown 
in Figure 183 where “Mazda” lamps afford very even 
lighting and minimize shadows. 

When the system of localized general illumination 
is used the arrangement is modified by locating the 
lighting units with reference to the work without at¬ 
tempting to provide even illumination over the entire 
floor area, see Figure 184. The units are placed com¬ 
paratively high, thus affording a sufficient spread of 
the light to illuminate the less important areas with a 
low intensity: but even with the use of this system a 
generally symmetrical spacing is desirable in so far 
as may be practical. 

Localized lighting is the system employed where a 
high intensity of light is required on a small area, and 
it consists of confining the distribution of light to 
such individual areas by hanging the lighting units 
low, see Figure 185. A protective reflector screening 


44G 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIGS. 183 AND 184 . GENERAL AND LOCALIZED GENERAL LIGHTING 



















DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


447 



FIGS. 


185 AND 18G. LOCALIZED AND COMBINATION LIGHTING 









448 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


the lamp from the operator should always he used 
with this method in order to avoid glare; this, how¬ 
ever, prevents a spread of light, so that the surround¬ 
ings are in comparative darkness. 

This localized system is also more expensive to in¬ 
stall than a general or localized general system of 
lighting, due to the greater amount of wiring re¬ 
quired. Its maintenance cost is also high, due to fre¬ 
quent breakage of lights, and frequently much of the 
operator’s time is wasted in adjusting the light. 

The combination method of lighting consists in in¬ 
stalling a system of symmetrically spaced units to fur¬ 
nish a low intensity of general illumination and using 
this in conjunction with a localized system to afford 
an intense light on the work, see Figure 186. This 
method is much preferred to the purely localized sys¬ 
tem as it illuminates the otherwise dark areas which 
must necessarily exist when only local lights are used. 

Each of these several lighting systems has its dis¬ 
tinct advantages when correctly applied, but extreme 
care should be exercised in deciding upon the system 
to be used so that all requirements may be satisfied. 

Types of Lighting Units.—There are three types or 
systems of lighting units; direct, semi-indirect and 
entirely indirect. Direct lighting, which employs a 
unit that sheds the light without further reflection 
upon the work, is generally the most efficient system 
and is the only one properly applicable where ceilings 
and walls are dark in color or irregular in form. 
Such a unit must be properly constructed and placed, 
or otherwise faulty diffusion will cause sharp, hard 
shadows. 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


449 


A semi-indirect unit sends a greater part of its 
emitted light to an external surface, usually the ceil¬ 
ing, from which it is reflected, though some light 
passes through the translucent inverted reflector. 
Such units may be used with flat and smooth white or 
light colored ceilings and these are particularly 
adapted to office and drafting room work. 

The totally indirect unit sends all the light output 
to the ceiling from which it must be reflected, and 
this of course cannot well be used without flat, smooth 
ceilings especially prepared for this work. These units 
are not economical for factory use. 

The best type of lamp for factory work is the incan¬ 
descent or filament electric lamp,—the tungsten or 
Mazda “B” vacuum lamp in smaller sizes, that is, up 
to 60 Watts and the gas-filled tungsten or Mazda “C” 
lamp, sometimes called the tungsten-nitrogen lamp, in 
sizes from 75 to 1,000 Watts. 

The selection of proper reflectors is just as import¬ 
ant as the type, size and spacing of lamps. Good il¬ 
lumination requires not only a sufficient quantity of 
light, but proper distribution and diffusion. It is 
therefore important that the lamps be equipped with 
suitable reflectors to meet the requirements of the pro¬ 
cesses and type of building. For work requiring 
careful vision, a corresponding degree of diffusion is 
required, and, as this is usually secured at a sacrifice 
in volume of light, economy demands that a correct 
compromise between these elements be effected. By 
proper selection of reflectors, a considerable economy 
of distribution can be secured by directing the light 
over the useful angles. For this purpose many types 


450 


TI1E FACTORY BUILDINGS 





Prismatic 


Light Uiiiity Opal Heavy Druily Opal 

DEEP BOWL OlASS REFLECTOR* 


Medium Density Opal 


Dorns Tips Enamaled Stasl ReBactor 


Baal Typs Eoamtlsd Sisal 
Rsltsstas 


Enameled Stssl Reflector sad 
Opals.c.ni Eocloving Olobe 
For uss abase diBused 
light Is drailed 


Reflecto-cap Difluser produces sell 
diffused general lUumioatioa 


Diflaamg foil far Largs MAZDA lampa— 
Interior or Busiior Lighting 


FIG. 187 . TYPES OF REFLECTORS FOR FACTORY ILLUMINATION 













DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


451 


of scientifically designed reflectors are available, and 
some of these are illustrated in Figure 187. While the 
so-called “steel” reflectors are most commonly used 
glass reflectors are occasionally used for some pro¬ 
cesses, as well as for office lighting. 

There are two general types of glass reflectors in 
common use; namely, the clear prismatic and the 
white glass. The prismatic reflector, which is made 
for extensive, intensive and focusing distribution, has 
the advantage of more accurate control of the light 
and higher general efficiency. The principal styles of 
steel reflectors are the diffuser or dome type, bowl 
type and the angle or symmetrical reflector. The dif¬ 
fuser, or dome type reflector, is made for wide angle 
distribution, while the bowl type is made for exten¬ 
sive, intensive and focusing distribution: that is, with 
the maximum intensity of light at 45, 30 and 0 de¬ 
grees, respectively, from the vertical. The angle 
types are useful in places where strong light in de¬ 
fined directions is desirable on surfaces approaching 
the vertical. ' The diffuser or dome type reflector is 
usually more efficient than the corresponding bowl 
types, but the bowl types offer better eye protection 
by shielding the filament. The diffuser or dome type 
is usually furnished with white porcelain enamel and 
the bowl type with either the porcelain enamel or 
aluminum finish on the reflecting surfaces. The alu¬ 
minum finish has a high initial efficiency and allows 
accurate control of the light distribution. The porce¬ 
lain enamel cannot readily be made for intensive dis¬ 
tribution and is not available for focusing distribu¬ 
tion. This finish, however, if well made, is well nigh 


452 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 188. PARTIAL WIRING PLAN OF ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT 


indestructible, is not readily soiled and is easily 
cleaned. It is not affected by any ordinary temper¬ 
ature, moisture or fumes, and when cleaned returns to 
its original efficiency. * 1 

Another form of porcelain enamelled steel reflector 
often used for yard lighting is the radial wave. This 
has a very wide angle of distribution and is especially 

adaptable where reflectors must be spaced long dis¬ 
tances apart. 

Plans and Specifications.—An illustration of the 
partial layout of a lighting system for the assembling 









































































































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


453 


department of an air-plane motor shop is shown in 
Figure 188. This arrangement, using 100 Watt Type 
“C” Mazda lamps and Ivanhoe “Regent" reflectors, 
provided a most excellent light both in intensity and 
diffusion throughout every portion of the shop. 

The arrangement of all circuits and panel boards 
and the mounting of the lamps may be clearly noted. 
All wiring was run in conduit. Sprague “Multilet” 
outlet boxes were used and all panel boards were 
Metropolitan of the “Naro Safety” type. 

The general plans of a lighting system of some¬ 
what the same character for a Binder Twine Mill— 
—but naturally of much less intensity—is given in 
Chapter XII. 

Factory Heating.—The need of properly heating the 
workrooms of the industrial plant is obvious; never¬ 
theless not a few factories are imperfectly and im¬ 
properly heated and many with little regard to the 
established principles of hygiene or economy. 

Many physiological ills and diseases make their at¬ 
tacks in the colder months of the vear when the fac- 

* 

tory windows are closed and artificial heat is used,— 
a period when crowded workrooms are befouled with 
stale germ-laden, bad air unless some special means 
have been provided for their proper ventilation, that 
is for removing the stale and vitiated air and replac¬ 
ing it with an abundance of pure, clean and properly 
conditioned or comfortably warmed air. 

The subject of factory-heating is therefore very in¬ 
timately associated with factory ventilation, particu¬ 
larly with artificial ventilation or such as is required 
during the heating season; and no factory heating sys- 


454 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tern is sufficient or complete which does not effect the 
necessary change of air and provide a constant supply 
of properly tempered pure air to replace the vitiated 
air removed. 

Systems of Heating.—Two distinct types of indus¬ 
trial plant heating systems are in general use; (1) the 
“direct'’ system employing pipe coils or radiators 
located at necessary points throughout the buildings, 
and using steam, or, at times, hot water in circula¬ 
tion as the heating media, and (2) the “indirect” 
or warm air-blast system using a fan and heater 
centrally located,—the former passing air through a 
bank of heated coils and out through a sheet metal 
duct with a series of distributing branches with out¬ 
lets located as desired. 

Both of these systems may be said to be quite gen¬ 
erally used in varied forms. The “direct” system 
may use either high or low pressure steam and with 
trapped or gravity return of the condensed water to 
the source of supply or with very low pressure or ex¬ 
haust steam with the entire return piping system un¬ 
der vacuum,—that is with the use of a pump to re¬ 
move all air from the pipes and create a partial 
vacuum in the return lines through which the con¬ 
densate is exhausted and returned to the source; or 
hot water is sometime used instead of steam,—being 
circulated by means of a pump. The indirect system 
may and sometimes does use any one of the methods 
noted but the operation of the heater with low pres¬ 
sure or exhaust steam under vacuum return is always 

r 

preferable. 

There are several disadvantages connected with the 




DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


455 


use of high pressure steam for plant heating; in the 
lirst place it is extravagant and wasteful if used in¬ 
stead of otherwise available exhaust steam; it cannot 
be controlled with the ease and convenience of low 
pressure steam and must be reduced to a low pressure 
if the vacuum system of return is to be utilized. Ex¬ 
perience has proven that the most satisfactory and 
economical method—whether the direct or indirect 
system is employed—is the use of exhaust steam or, if 
this is. not available, the use of very low pressure 
live steam,—either one under vacuum return. 

Hot water is not a desirable medium for plant heat¬ 
ing; it is true that a number of such installations have 
been made but usually as apparently the best way to 
utilize waste heat. Such systems require larger radi¬ 
ating surface than steam and larger piping and even 
then circulation is apt to be uncertain and sluggish, 
so that as a rule a pump must be installed to force 
this; it is not a flexible system, it does not respond 
quickly to rapid changes in temperature and is sub¬ 
ject to rather rapid deterioration. 

Where it seems economy to use waste hot water for 
heating it, generally speaking, would be advantageous 
to convert it into very low pressure steam and utilize 
this under vacuum either in the direct steam or in¬ 
direct warm air-blast system. 

The determination of the proper heating system for 
the factory is an important question for it is quite as 
essential to the success of the average manufacturing 
plant as good tools and good light; and it should be 
designed when the plans for the building are being 
made for otherwise it may have to be cut down or 



456 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


contorted or the installation made expensive in first 
cost and difficult and costly to operate. 

In selecting the type of heating system—and in 
most instances this is limited to either the 44 direct’’ 
coil and radiator type or the “indirect” fan and coil 
heater type—the character of the building and the 
purpose for which it is designed must be carefully 
studied. What answers for one type of building is 
totally unsuited for another of a different type. Again, 
what serves very well in a building of a certain type, 
in which a particular class of work is done, proves 
anything but satisfactory in a building of the same 
type in which a different kind of work is done. 

This can be made clear by comparing a machine 
shop with a paper mill. They are similar in size, 
6hape and exposure. In the machine shop, no steam 
or moisture is emitted to condense on the walls and 
roof; hence many of them are heated in a satisfactorv 
manner by direct radiation, consisting of steam coils 
or radiators placed around the outside walls. Such a 
system would never do in a paper mill, where every 
day several tons of water are thrown off into the 
atmosphere in the form of steam from the drying 
cylinders over which the paper passes. This steam 
must be taken up by a copious circulation of warm, 
dry air, or it will drip from the roof and run down 
the walls in streams. 

Again, in a shoe factory, shirt, glove, cap, or other 
manufacturing plant, where hundreds of employees 
are assembled in one room, the air very soon becomes 
unfit to breathe; it produces a dull, languid feeling, 
which saps all the vitality and ambition of the em- 




DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


457 


ployees, makes them inert, forgetful, careless, subject 
to severe colds and other disabilities, all tending to 
make them irregular in their attendance to their 
duties. To overcome this, the building must be well 
ventilated, and the ventilation of a building in the 
winter time must be considered in connection with the 
heating system. 

For factory heating the direct radiation system has, 
generally speaking, little to commend itself as com¬ 
pared with an efficient warm-air-blast or efficient 
blower system; but there are nevertheless many in- 
stances where it may be desirable or necessary to in¬ 
stall it and this is particularly true in buildings of 
large cubical contents relative to the number of people 
employed and without complicated problems of dust 
or gas or objectionable processing odors. 

Direct, Vacuum-Return Heating System.—The ex¬ 
haust or low-pressure vacuum-return system of direct 
radiation heating is very simple in its arrangement, 
as may be observed by reference to the diagram 
shown in Figure 189 which indicates that exhaust 
steam from the engine is passed into the low pressure 
heating main, from which connections are made direct 
to the radiators. The atmospheric exhaust line from 
the heating main is controlled by a back-pressure 
valve set at any desired point, so that any steam not 
required for heating is condensed in the feed water 
heater, while any excess above the capacity of the 
heating requirements and of the feed water heater 
causes the back pressure valve in the atmospheric 
exhaust line to open and allow the excess to escape. 

The heating coils or radiators should be equipped 


458 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



The Wtbtier lytfrm at amplified by llu utt of a Cochrane Steam-Slack amt Cut-Out Valet Healer and Receietr. 


FIG. 189 . LOW-PRESSURE VACUUM-RETURN HEATING SYSTEM 

with graduating or modulating valves to control the 
supply of steam thereto. The outlet of each coil or 
radiator must be equipped with a vacuum valve or 
trap which automatically closes when steam reaches 
it and opens with an accumulation of condensation 
and air. 

These vacuum valves are connected to a return main 
which leads to a vacuum pump, and this pump re¬ 
moves all the water and air from the return main, 
keeping it under a vacuum of usually eight to ten 
inches, and returns the hot water of condensation to 
the feed water heater. 

Indirect Fan System.—The fan or warm air blast 
system of heating has many points of superiority 
over the direct radiation system, particularly in 
plants where a large number of people are employed 
or where moisture, fumes, dust or disagreeable odors 
or vapors are given off in processing. The fan system 
of heating provides, not only a proper and uniform 






























































DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


459 



FIG. 190 . HEATER FOR INDIRECT FAN HEATING 

distribution of heat but affords complete and excellent 
ventilation regardless of the physical configuration of 
the building and surrounding conditions and may be 
designed to remove dust, moisture, vapors and fumes. 
It provides for independent regulation of both heating 
and ventilating; it is easy to install, is readily con¬ 
trolled, low in first cost and maintenance expense, and 
affords a high efficiency of heating surface with an 
economical operating cost. 

Such a fan system for factory heating comprises 
four main elements—a heater; that is a bank of pipe 
coils or a stack of cast iron radiating sections, a fan 
or blower either engine or motor driven, a main air 
duct with distributing branches and outlets and the 
necessary steam supply and return lines with their 
control valves. 

The heater may consist of a series of pipe coils con¬ 
nected to a manifold cast-iron base which is divided 












4 GO 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



HG. 191 . FAN AND AIR DUCTS FOR INDIRECT HEATING 

into separate sections or of a series of “vento” or 
cast iron radiating sections, as illustrated in Figure 
190, which indicates also to some extent the arrange¬ 
ment of the necessary steam piping and connections. 

The steam coils or heating sections are enclosed 
with a sheet metal casing and the required air for 
heating and ventilating is drawn or forced through 
the clear areas of the heating units by means of a 
centrifugal fan connected with the heater casing; this 
heated air is then forced through the distributing 
ducts into the workroom or rooms to be heated, the 
outlets being located at desirable points. The fan 
operating at a speed which produces an air velocity 

w 

of about 1200 feet per minute through the heating 















DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


461 



sections causes these radiating surfaces to give off 
heat at a so much greater rate than is possible with 
direct radiation that only one-third to one-tifth as 
much radiating surface is required for this system as 
compared with the direct system. 

The air used may he drawn entirely from out of 
doors or entirely from the building for recirculation 
and the quantity may be such as to give any number 
of complete air changes per hour that may he needed. 
Very often twenty-five percent of fresh air is taken 
from outside and the balance from the building and in 
such quantities as to afford four changes of air per 
hour with a total and complete air change every hour. 

A very good idea of the arrangement of the heating 
sections and fan and main air ducts may he had by 
reference to Figure 191, illustrating such a system in 
use at one of the Bethlehem Steel Shops. 

A heating system of this type is completely detailed 
in plan and section in Figure 192. This system was in¬ 
stalled in the engine assembling plant of the Wright- 



















































































































4G2 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


N«t» au* 



South S»U 


FIG. 193. PLAN OF CARRIER HUMIDIFICATION SYSTEM 

Martin Air-Craft Company and called for the heating 
of the building to 70° in zero weather using all fresh 
air with a complete air change every fifteen minutes. 
This was demanded because of objectionable gasolene 
and oil fumes. Both fan and heater units are so de¬ 
signed and arranged that either or both may be used 
to operate the entire system; both are required for the 
maximum air change noted and also to afford suffi¬ 
cient heat in the coldest weather; but it was demon¬ 
strated that in mild weather one unit alone provided 
sufficient heat and very satisfactory ventilation. 

One great advantage of the air blast system of heat¬ 
ing is the absolute control of room temperature and 
ventilation but it is possible to go further than this 
and by the introduction of air washers and humidi¬ 
fiers or dehumidifiers to control not only temperatures 
but the percentage of moisture in the air and in the 
workroom. When this is desired the Carrier System 
of humidification or dehumidification must be in- 









































463 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 

stalled as a part of the system. Such a complete sys- 
• tern, temperature and humidification control, is shown 
in Figaire 193 which illustrates an installation in the 
five-story mill of the American Thread Company. 

Factory Sanitation.—There are no elements of 
greater importance in the design of the factory build¬ 
ing than the demands of proper sanitation and these 
include not only good light, pure air, and the mainte¬ 
nance of a comfortable working temperature, but also 
a supply of pure drinking water, approved drinking 
fountains, modern wash and toilet fixtures, a proper 
drainage and sewage system and well equipped locker 
and dressing rooms. 

The matter of the water supply and distribution 
system for the factory may vary from the exceedingly 
simple usage of water supplied by the municipality 
for drinking and all other purposes, to the very com¬ 
plex problem of utilizing an impure river water that 
must be passed through a process of sedimentation, 
chemical treatment and filtration for drinking pur¬ 
poses and a further softening treatment for use in the 
various manufacturing processes. 

Drinking Water.—Wherever other than the ap¬ 
proved municipal supply is used for drinking pur¬ 
poses the purity of such supply and any necessary 
treatment should be certified bv the health authori- 
ties, and without exception those plants using other 
than city water supplies ought to filter the water used. 

The drinking water should be so distributed that 
employees may obtain it at will, without loss of time 
and in a perfectly sanitary way, assuring freedom 
from possible communicable diseases. This means the 


4G4 


THK FACTORY BUILDINGS 


abolition of the common drinking cup and the use of 
sanitary bubbling fountains placed at convenient in¬ 
tervals throughout the workrooms. These fountains 
may be obtained in a variety of design or mode of 
operation. 

Wash and Locker Rooms.—Perhaps next in impor¬ 
tance to the drinking water supply are the facilities 
required for the cleanliness and health conservation 
of the employees and this demands adequate and sani¬ 
tary wash, shower, and locker rooms and toilet ac¬ 
commodations. Such facilities should embrace not 
only those equipments demanded by law as being ab¬ 
solutely necessary to the maintenance of the health of 
the workers, but they should include means for adding 
to the convenience and comfort of the employees and 
such as will enable them to wear good clothes to and 
from work,—to change them upon arrival to working 
clothes which have been dried and aired over night, 
and at the close of the day to remove them, wash, 
bathe, don their street clothes, which have been prop¬ 
erly protected during the day, and leave like real men, 
fresh, clean and presentable. 

For economic reasons the lavatories, showers, and 
lockers may well be grouped together in one or more 
rooms or in one building rather than too generally 
scattered throughout the plant, except in the case of 
works covering large areas and having several en¬ 
trances and exists, when several such service rooms or 
buildings would be required,—their number and loca¬ 
tions depending upon the local conditions. As these 
rooms are used either before or after working hours 
no working time is lost by the travel of employees to 


405 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


--3 



FIG. 194 . WASH AND DRESSING ROOMS WITH TOILETS, SHOWERS, 

AND LOCKERS 


and from them, and a better layout can be made by 
grouping rather than scattering these facilities. All 
such rooms should be equipped with a battery of 
water closets and urinals, which are to be considered 
as an added convenience rather than as a part of the 
regular service equipment that must be located 
throughout the plant in readily accessible points in 
order to minimize the working time lost in going to 
and from them. 

Where many people wash and bathe and change 
sweat-soaked clothes, the walls, floors, partitions, and 
fixtures should be of non-absorbent materials, free 
from all dirt-catching moldings and trim. The ven¬ 
tilation must be of the very best and means provided 
for the maintenance of the utmost clealiness. A cur- 
















46G 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


rent of warm air should he made to circulate through 
the locker room or, if necessary, racks over steam 
pipes should he provided for drying working clothes 
during the night and a good circulation of air should 
he maintained to carrv off hotli the moisture and 
odors. 

A locker should he provided for each individual em¬ 
ployee, and if drying racks are used each employee 
should have a space thereon numbered the same as 
his locker. In the wash room one lavatory should he 
provided for each five employees; one shower hath for 
each ten employees will prove ample for the average 
plant. A complete service room, including lockers, 
lavatories, urinals, water closets and shower baths is 
shown in Figure 194 which is a view of one of the 
wash and dressing rooms in the plant of the Roches¬ 
ter Folding Box Company. 

Toilet Rooms.—The service facilities of the factory 
toilet room are used for the most part during working 
hours, and to minimize lost time it is necessary to 
locate these service rooms at convenient points 
throughout the plant. Preferably these facilities 
should he located in outside rooms or towers, as dis¬ 
cussed and illustrated in the chapters on plant layout 
and arrangement. It has become somewhat of a gen¬ 
eral practice to install these equipments in mezzanine 
rooms in the one story, saw-tooth building, thus avoid¬ 
ing the breaking up of the working floor and at the 
same time providing rooms with exceptionally good 
natural light and ventilation. 

All toilet rooms should be constructed with floors, 
walls, and ceilings of non-ahsorhent materials, prefer- 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


467 


ably with cement surfaced walls and ceilings and with 
floors of virtified tile or concrete,—the walls and ceil¬ 
ings being finished with a hard gloss paint so that 
they may be frequently washed down. The separate 
rooms provided for the men and women should be 
located either some considerable distance apart or the 
entrances thereto placed at extreme distances. Pref¬ 
erably each room should serve not more than one or 
two departments and separate accommodations should 
be provided for the office force even when the offices 
are located within a section of the factory building. 

The toilet room fixtures should comprise at least one 
water closet for every fifteen employes or fraction 
thereof, and one urinal for every twenty men; and in 
no case should less than two sets of fixtures be used 
however small the number of employees in any de¬ 
partment. One or two wash bowls and a mirror 
should be supplied in each room. 

The fixtures used should be of the strongest and 
best type of those approved for factory use and of 
vitreous china or porcelain. Simplicity is greatly pro¬ 
moted by the use of one piece fixtures, without visible 
attachments and accessories to be tampered and so be 
put out of order; these parts are entirely out of view 
and their absence promotes cleanliness and ease of 
cleaning. In the case of the toilet fixtures these ac¬ 
cessories may well be located in partition compart¬ 
ments large enough for ready adjustment or repair. 

The walls of all toilet rooms should be tight and 
extend to the ceiling and the doors should be self¬ 
closing. Partitions should be placed between each 
closet and these, preferably of slate, should be not less 


468 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


than six nor more than seven feet in height with a 
space of from six to twelve inches between the bot¬ 
tom of the partitions and the floor. The compartment 
doors should be of the double hung, double swing 
type, held normally in an open position by spring at¬ 
tachments and closed by a simple swing catch lock 
when in service. 

Shower baths arranged in batteries are most eco¬ 
nomical. An excellent type is that with slate shower 
stalls and attached dressing rooms with slate seats, 
but in general the simple open slate stall will prove 
entirely satisfactory. All batteries should be equipped 
with large shower heads, with self-closing valves and 
with thermostatic mixing valves to control the tem¬ 
perature of the water. 

The ventilation of the toilet rooms should receive 
special attention and, aside from the natural ventila¬ 
tion afforded by outside wall windows and roof ven- 
tilation, mechanical means should be provided in all 
large rooms for the removal of foul air. This may be 
accomplished either by the use of local or rear-vent 
closets, connected to a shaft under positive draft, or 
registers may be placed directly back of the closets 
and discharge into a compartment from which the air 
is mechanically exhausted. 

w 

The installation of all the sendee fixtures should be 
made in conformity with the governing local or state 
code. 

Other Service Facilities.—The present day factory 
is incomplete if it does not contain an infirmary or 
accident emergency room, smoking rooms for the men 
if smoking is prohibited at all times in the work- 


DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


4G9 



FIG. 195 . 


INEXPENSIVE EMERGENCY 


FACTORY 


HOSPITAL 


rooms, rest rooms for the women employees, and suit¬ 
able lunch rooms for all the plant workers. These 
facilities are not luxuries but actual necessities to 
which the worker has a right, and the provision of 
which has time and again proven a worth while in¬ 
vestment. 

Accidents are not entirely unavoidable in a factory 
where a number of persons are working together, no 
matter how careful they may seem to be or how well 
the machines may be protected by safety devices. 
Defects develop or a moment of forgetfulness occurs, 
and it is for the unexpected that means for immediate 
relief and temporary proper care must be at hand. 
This demands a properly equipped emergency room, 
supplied with a cot, stretcher, bandages, cotton, anti¬ 
septics, medicine chests, surgical instruments, and 
operating table for not only the minor operations and 

























470 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 196 . COMMODIOUS REST ROOM FOR WOMEN EMPLOYEES 


treatinents that are from time to time necessary but 
for major operations in case of necessity. Such a 
room should be well located in rather a central posi¬ 
tion in the plant and at a point affording easy exit 
for ambulance cases. It should be well lighted and 
ventilated, and the floor, walls and ceilings should be 
of non-absorbent materials with sanitary finish. Fig¬ 
ure 195 shows the interior of one of the emergency 
hospital rooms at one of the factories of the General 
Electric Company. Figure 196 shows a section of 
one of the women’s rest rooms at the National Cash 
Register Company’s works. These views indicate 
how progressive manufacturers are taking care of 
the needs of their employees. 

Practically all of our advanced manufacturing plants 
have made provision for furthering the comfort and 
pleasure of the employee’s luncheon hour; and these 
facilities vary from the simple luncheon room with 
chairs and tables, to which the employees may bring 
their own lunches, to the inclusion of complete kit- 











DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


471 


chens and cafeterias or dining rooms where hot coffee, 
soup, and even more elaborate and complete meals 
are supplied at a very nominal charge. A very satis¬ 
factory dining room is that at one of the Sherwin 
Williams plants, shown in Figure 197; this is a simply 
furnished room but very comfortable and it adequately 
serves the needs of a small plant or of an isolated 
lunch room in a large works. A view of the modern 
type of cafeteria adapted to the service of a large 
number of employees is shown in Figure 198, which 
illustrates one of several in use at the Swift Com¬ 
pany’s plant in Chicago. 

Factory Fire Protection.—The interests of the fac¬ 
tory owner in the continued operation of his plant, 
the protection of his investment in buildings, ma¬ 
chinery, and materials, and the safety of his em¬ 
ployees all demand the best possible protection from 
damage by fire; and to this end the progressive manu¬ 
facturer is employing the most approved precautions 
against this hazard and adequate means for detect¬ 
ing and extinguishing fires when they do occur. 

Prevention against possible fires is of course the 
first essential precaution to take. This must begin 
with the design of the factory building in the arrange¬ 
ment of departments, the form and character of con¬ 
struction and the materials used, and with the pro¬ 
vision of protection against all hazardous manufac¬ 
turing materials and operations. Quick and automatic 
means for detecting and extinguishing a fire as soon 
as it starts is the next essential affording maximum 
protection, and this must be augmented by the em¬ 
ployment of all practicable means for preventing the 


472 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIGS. 197 AND 198 . FACTORY LUNCH ROOM AND CAFETERIA 


spread of any fire that may gain headway and by 
the provision of sure and safe means of egress to all 
employees whenever or wherever a fire may occur. 
The building itself should be designed to prevent 





























DETAILS AND EQUIPMENT 


473 


the spread of any fire that cannot be extinguished as 
soon as started; this necessity again influences the 
type and form of building, and demands its sub¬ 
division into sections by means of fire-proof walls 
with openings protected by self-closing fire doors and 
with fire-proof stairways well located for the quick 
escape of operators from any one section,—the exits 
being clearly marked by red signs, illuminated at 
night. 

The approved standard means for quickly and auto¬ 
matically extinguishing a fire is the automatic 
sprinkler system, and this system should be installed 
in every manufacturing building even though the 
structure be of reinforced concrete and the operations 
and materials of manufacture may seem to be largelv 
of a non-combustible nature. Supplementary to this 
a standard fire alarm svstem should be installed in 
large buildings where many operators are employed 
and in all large plants comprising a number of build¬ 
ings. All floors of each building should be equipped 
with fire hose permanently connected to the water 
svstem, and in manv instances with hand chemical 
extinguishers, and with pails of sand, sawdust, or 
other materials as the nature of the work therein 
carried on demands. 

A complete automatic sprinkler system for the pro¬ 
tection of the manufacturing plant comprises four or 
more distinct units. There is first an assured water 
supply, such as the municipal service, with a pres¬ 
sure of fifty pounds or more. This should be aug¬ 
mented by a second unit, such as pumps to serve in 
case of a drop of pressure in the municipal mains, or 


474 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


by an elevated storage tank of several thousand gal¬ 
lons capacity; the supply preferably being from two 
different sources. The third unit may be termed the 
general distribution mains which feed the yard hy¬ 
drants and the building hose lines; while the fourth 
comprises the automatic sprinklers themselves,—spray 
heads held closed by fusible links which part under 
predetermined temperatures and then discharge a 
copious and continued shower of water over a wide 
area; the heads being located 8 to 10 feet apart and 
connected to the auxiliary water distribution lines. 

Miscellaneous Equipments.—A great many of the 
factory building needs are classed under this desig¬ 
nation and practically all of them enter into or are 
considered either an integral or intimate part of the 
building equipment. These may comprise a watch¬ 
man’s recording and signal station; a complete de¬ 
partmental telephone or other intercommunicating 
system; an automatic personal signal or call system; 
a pneumatic or automatic mail or order distributing 
and collecting system; and many elements of shop 
equipments, such as motors, shafting, steam and water 
lines, conveyors or other mechanical means for the 
handling and transfer of materials, and shop furniture 
and fixtures, such as work benches and tables and 
chairs, stock racks and bins, and many other fixtures. 

It is not necessary to discuss these equipment ele¬ 
ments herein, for the nature of the industry will largely 
govern their use; but their importance has been em¬ 
phasized in the chapters on the “Preliminary Studies” 
prerequisite to any attempt to lay out the plant. 


CHAPTER XII 


PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 

Work Involved.—The character and extent of the 
work involved in the development of an industrial 
plant and the necessary factory buildings has been 
quite fully discussed in the preceding chapters, in 
which also it was emphasized that the really success¬ 
ful development is not and cannot be the work of 
any one individual but rather is and must be the 
result of the co-operative effort of owners, operators 
and engineers, representing and embodying the knowl¬ 
edge of many minds, brought together, assimilated 
and developed under the competent, individual 
direction of an engineer who is supported by an 
organization which is trained for and skilled in this 
particular service. 

It is, as has been stated, the engineer’s especial 
province first, to ascertain in all necessary detail the 
operating requirements of the proposed plant and 
the most practical ways and means of satisfying these 
demands; then from this basis and upon this foun¬ 
dation to develop the general scheme of plant ar¬ 
rangement; to lay out the several departments with 
all their machinery and equipments; to develop the 
plant buildings and other structures with all their 
necessary facilities; to prepare detailed plans, spe¬ 
cifications and contracts for the building of the 

475 


476 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


plant; to direct and supervise its construction ami 
the installation of its machinery and equipment, and 
in fact to turn over to the owners or their official rep¬ 
resentatives a completed plant,—tested and tried out 
—ready for operation. 

Co-operative Services.—A great deal of the work 

so involved has been discussed at considerable length 
and in detail, because it represents particularly that 
work and those studies preliminary to the prepara¬ 
tion of building plans and specifications, in which 
the plant owners and operators must especially co¬ 
operate, since it cannot be well carried out without 
the assistance of those who possess a most thorough 
knowledge of the technical nature and needs of the 
especial business in question. 

There are occasions when much of this prelimi¬ 
nary work is undertaken by the owner’s executive and 
operating organization, the investigation, studies and 
conclusions being carried through by them, to a com¬ 
plete finality; in other instances it is so undertaken 
in part and concluded under the direction of the 
engineers engaged especially therefor; while in still 
other cases the engineers are retained from the be¬ 
ginning to take full charge of this preliminary 
work,—the owner’s organization co-operating therein 
largely in an advisory capacity. 

In any case the plant owners or managers appre¬ 
ciate, to a large extent, the necessity and the nature 
and extent of this preliminary work, which has been 
so fully detailed in the earlier chapters of this book, 
because it is something with which they are con¬ 
versant in that it embraces the essentials of their own 


PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 477 


business and of their own especial manufacturing 
operations. 

It is not necessary that the owner or manager in¬ 
tending to build an industrial plant should be 
familiar with the exact manner and method in which 
each and all of the engineering details of the pro¬ 
ject are to be handled; but it is essential that this 
work be entrusted to such competent engineers or 
architects as include within their organization all 
the several kinds of ability demanded for its com- 
plete and satisfactory performance. It is also im¬ 
portant that the plant owner or manager undertak¬ 
ing such a development should be conversant with 
the general procedure in such matters and should be 
familiar with the accepted forms of contracts be¬ 
tween owners and engineers or architects and be¬ 
tween owners and contractors which set forth the 
services each should render. He should also possess 
some knowledge of what the construction plans 
should embrace and what the specifications should 
define. 

Contract Between Owner and Engineer.—The plant 
owner, in considering the employing of an engineer 
or architect, should appreciate the relationship he 
seeks to establish. It is that of client and profes¬ 
sional adviser and, as such, it must be founded pri¬ 
marily upon mutual respect and confidence. Partic¬ 
ularly must the owner be satisfied that the engineer 
or architect possesses the integrity, experience, 
knowledge, and skill and ability to carry successfully 
through all details connected with the work for which 
he is to be retained, because the conclusions mutually 


478 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


agreed upon and his final recommendations and work 
are accepted with the full knowledge that it is the 
owner’s responsibility that subsequent operations 
prove the correctness of the plant and the worth of 
the work in all its essentials. 

The attitude of the engineer or architect in accept¬ 
ing and carrying out such an engagement may be 
summed up in the expression of the American Insti¬ 
tute of Architects in this regard, which is to the 
effect that this work demands men of the highest in¬ 
tegrity, business capacity, and technical skill, because 
to such are entrusted financial undertakings in which 
honesty of purpose must be above suspicion, and 
acting as professional adviser to his client his advice 
must he absolutely disinterested. Exercising judicial 
functions as between client and contractors he must 
act with entire impartiality,—his profession and 
work carries with it grave demands and moral re¬ 
sponsibilities and these may not all be properly dis¬ 
charge unless his motives, his conduct, and his abil¬ 
ities are such as to command respect and confidence 
in all his professional actions. 

Because of the responsibilities that the owner must 
entrust to the engineer or architect in carrying out 
such engagements, and the confidence that such 
action entails, it may be pertinent to add that in 
accordance with their underlying principles of prac¬ 
tice, as succinctly expressed in the ‘ * Code of Ethics” 
of the American Institute of Consulting Engineers, 
both the engineer and the architect consider it un¬ 
professional and highly inconsistent with honor and 
dignity: 


PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 479 


1. To act for his clients in professional matters otherwise 
than in a strictly fiduciary manner or to accept any other re¬ 
muneration than his direct charges for services rendered his 
clients except as provided in Clause 4. 

2. To accept any trade commissions, discounts, allowances 
or any indirect profit or consideration in connection with any 
work which he is engaged to design or to superintend, or 
in connection with any professional business which may be 
entrusted to him. 

3. To neglect informing his clients of any business con¬ 
nections, interests or circumstances which may be deemed as 
influencing his judgment or the quality of his services to his 
clients. 

4. To receive directly or indirectly any royalty, gratuity, 
or commission on any patented or protected article or process 
used in work upon which he is retained by his clients, unless 
and until receipt of such royalty, gratuity or commission has 
been authorized in writing by his clients. 

5. To offer commissions or otherwise improperly solicit 
professional work either directly or by an agent. 

6. To attempt to injure falsely or maliciously, directly or 
indirectly, the professional reputation, prospects, or business 
of a fellow engineer. 

7. To accept employment by a client while the claim for 
compensation or damages, or both, of a fellow engineer pre¬ 
viously employed by the same client and whose employment 
has been terminated, remains unsatisfied, or until such claim 
has been referred to arbitration, or issue has been joined at 
law, or unless the engineer previously employed has neglected 
to press his claim legally. 

8. To attempt to supplant a fellow engineer after definite 
steps have been taken toward his employment. 

9. To compete with a fellow engineer for employment on 
the basis of professional charges by reducing his usual charges 


480 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


and attempting to underbid after being informed of the 
charges named by his competitor. 

10. To accept any engagement to review the work of a 
fellow engineer for the same client, except with the knowl¬ 
edge and consent of such engineer, or unless the connection 
of such engineer with the work has been terminated. 

Form of Contract Between Owner and Engineer.— 

The exact form and nature of the contract covering 
the engineer’s services in these matters will depend 
of course upon the character and extent of the work 
required. In some cases the owner may desire to 
limit this, in the first instance, to a preliminary re¬ 
port embodying a clear statement of the plant neces¬ 
sities and the ways and means recommended for their 
satisfaction, with general studies of suggested plant 
layout and preliminary sketches of arrangement. 

In other instances the owner may wish the studies 
and preliminary work as soon as received, modified, 
and approved by him to be augmented by the final 
plans and working drawings, specifications, and con¬ 
tracts so that the development may be carried 
through to its completion at the earliest possible 
date; and under these conditions the contract would 
cover the engineer’s services in their entirety. 

In either case the contractual relations may be 
properly established by letter,—the engineer submit¬ 
ting a written statement of just what he proposed to 
do and embodying therein the amount of his fees and 
the terms of payment; the owner in reply stating 
clearly his acceptance thereof. 

If a formal contract is desired the forms indicated 




PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 481 

below, modified to meet the exact demand of the 
case at issue, may be used: 


GENERAL FORM I. 

Contract between_Engineers, 

of-and_ 

of_Owners : 

The Engineers propose to make an examination of the present 

plant and operations of the_Company 

and a thorough study of their present and proposed manufactur¬ 
ing requirements for the purpose of recommending the best ways and 
means, in their judgment, of effecting their needed development. 

The conclusions of the investigation are to be submitted in a de¬ 
tailed report embodying the sketches, diagrams, and general plans 
necessary to a comprehensive description of whatever rcheme of de¬ 
velopment is recommended, together with a full discussion thereon, 
including preliminary estimates of the cost of the work. 

It is understood that this work will have the personal attention 

of Mr__ of the Engineers, in 

all its essentials and that it will be directed in the field, preferably. 

by their Mr__ with all the 

necessary assistants; the work to begin not later than_ 

and the completed Report to be delivered by_ 

or as near said date as possible. 

It is further understood that the Owners will assist the Engineers 
in this work in every possible way,—by appointing their Mr. 

___as their personal and 

advisory executive in all matters pertaining to the plant and its 
business; by affording them full and free access to all parts of 
the plant and to all required information relative to processes, 
equipments and operations, and the necessary conferences with 
executives and departmental heads. 

The Engineer’s fees for these services, including two copies of 
the Report which will embody the necessary sketches and drawings 

in reduced photo form, will be $-, plus all travelling 

and hotel expense incurred in connection therewith. Same to be 
due and payable within ten days after delivery of said Report. 
Approved and Accepted , - Engineers 


Owners 



















482 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


GENERAL FORM II. 

Contract between_ Engineers 

of _and __— 

of_Owners : 

The Engineers propose to make a thorough investigation of the 

manufacturing requirements of the- 

Company, and to submit a comprehensive study of the plant which 
they would recommend as best meeting the Company’s needs In 
every particular, including preliminary sketches and estimates; and 
the Company agrees to co-operate in these studies in every possible 
way. 

The Engineers further propose to confer with and assist the Owners 
in their discussion and review of the suggested development and the 
evolution of a final scheme embodying all essentials as mutually con¬ 
curred in, and thereafter and immediately following prepare the 
neessary general plans, working drawings, specifications and contracts 
for the new plant; also secure bids, award the contracts, furnish any 
required additional detailed drawings and generally supervise and 
superintend the work of construction and all building operations, as 
well as audit all the building construction and equipment accounts 
and Issue certificates for or otherwise authorize payments on account 
thereof. 

The Engineers will further act as the agent of the Owners in all 
their dealings or transactions with the Contractors and they shall be 
the official interpreters of the conditions of the contracts and judge 
of their performance with strict impartiality to both parties. They 
will direct and instruct the Contractors, insist upon their maintenance 
of effective working organizations, pass upon the merits of materials 
and workmanship, and demand proper correction and remedy of any 
and all defects discovered in their work, and assist the Owners in 
enforcing all the terms of the Contracts; but the Engineers’ services 
shall not include liability or responsibility for any breach of contract 
by the contractors. 

The Owners agree to pay the Engineers for their services as herein 

set forth a sum equal to_per cent of the entire and 

total cost of the completed plant, including all expenditures of what¬ 
ever nature, except_ 


and in addition thereto to pay all necessary travelling and hotel ex¬ 
pense incurred in the work. They further agree to pay the salaries 











PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 483 


and expenses of the supervising Engineers for the period or periods 
of their services in the field during construction, and also to pay for 
all borings, soundings and other unusual work or tests and for in¬ 
spections of machinery or equipment at the plant of fabrication. 

It is understood that all this work will have the personal super¬ 
vision and direction of Mr._, 

of the Engineers, and that the foregoing charges include_ 

personal visits by him for the purpose of conference, advice and direc¬ 
tion ; any additional visits requested by the Owner to be paid for at 
the rate of $_per day and expenses. 

Terms of payment to be as follows: Thirty per cent of the total fee 
when the preliminary report and sketches are completed and sub¬ 
mitted ; an additional thirty per cent when the final drawings, speci¬ 
fications and contracts are ready for letting and signature; thereafter 
the balance to be paid in monthly installments in proportion to the 
amount of work completed by the several contractors as established 
by the certificates or other approved forms of payments issued. 

Pending the final execution and completion of all the work covered 
by this contract, all percentages of payments*due are to be computed 
upon the estimates of such cost as prepared by the Engineers. 

If alterations or additions are made in the final drawings, specifi¬ 
cations and contracts at the Owner’s request, or if the Engineers’ 
services are required in connection with negotiations, legal proceed¬ 
ings, failure of contractors, franchises, or other matters aside from 
the work specified, a charge based upon the time and trouble involved 
shall be made in addition to the percentage fee agreed upon. 

If the work of actual development is for any reason postponed or 
abandoned, the Owners agree that the compensation to be paid to the 
Engineers shall bear such relation to the compensation for the entire 
work as the service then completed by the Engineers bears to the 
total service to be rendered by them. 

It is understood that all drawings and specifications are instru¬ 
ments of service and as such they are to remain the property of the 
Engineers; but the Owners are entitled to retain one complete record 
copy of same. 

Approved and Accepted, 

_ Engineers. 

Date: _ - 

_ Owners. 

Inj - 


Date: 











484 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


Cost of Engineering Services.—The engineers’ or 

the architects’ charges for such professional services 
as work of this nature entails, vary in accordance 
with the magnitude or importance of the work in¬ 
volved and the experience and reputation of those 
retained. As a general guide as to what these 
charges may be, a summary of the schedules of the 
Engineering Societies and of the American Institute 
of Architects may be taken as fairly representing 
such reasonable and proper compensation. 

The Engineering Societies recognize the propriety 
of charging (a) a per diem rate, or (b) a fixed sum 
or (c) a percentage on the cost of the work and 
somewhat as follows: 

1. For preliminary studies and reports on the require¬ 
ments of plants and suggested schemes of development: (a) 
Per diem charges of $100 or more per day for the principal 
consultant; $50 or more per day for associates, and from 
$12.50 to $25 per day for assistants, plus all travelling ex¬ 
penses with an allowance of from 25 to 50 per cent of such 
salary charges to cover general office expenses and overhead; 
or (b) in lieu of the above a fixed sum charge plus all 
traveling expense; or (c) in lieu of either (a) or (b) a per¬ 
centage charge varying from 1 to 2y 2 per cent of the cost 
of the proposed or suggested development plus all travelling 
and hotel expenses, when said cost exceeds $100,000, with a 
fee in excess of this rate on lesser work. 

2. For preliminary studies and reports, together with all 
necessary general and detailed drawings, specifications, gen¬ 
eral estimates and contract forms: A per diem charge or 
fixed sum charge as noted above or in lieu of either a per¬ 
centage charge of 4 to 6 per cent of the cost of the de¬ 
velopment, plus all traveling and hotel expense, when said 



PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 485 


cost exceeds $100,000, with a fee in excess of this rate on 
lesser work. 

3. F oi full professional services, including preliminary 
studies and reports together with all necessary drawings, 
specifications and contract forms, securing of bids, awarding 
of contracts, active and continuous direction of the work 
and supervision of construction and controlling of accounts: 
A per diem charge or fixed sum charge as previously noted 
or in lieu thereof a percentage charge of 7 y 2 to 10 per cent 
of the cost of the development, with an additional salary 
charge for the field supervision of engineers and assistants 
when so engaged, plus all travelling and hotel expense. For 
work costing less than $100,000, a per centage fee in excess 
of that noted. 

4. When charges are based on a percentage of the cost of 
the development, these fees, as noted, are computed on the 
entire and total cost of the completed plant or development, 
including equipments and all expenditures of whatever 
nature except those that may be specifically omitted by writ¬ 
ten agreement, and pending the execution and completion of 
the work all percentages of payments due are computed upon 
the estimates of such cost as prepared by the Engineers. 

The American Institute of Architects states, in 
part, in its schedule of service to be rendered and 
proper minimum charges: 

1. The architect’s professional services consist of the neces¬ 
sary conferences, the preparation of preliminary studies, 
working drawings, specifications, large scale and full-size de¬ 
tail drawings, and of the general direction and supervision 
of the work, for which, except as hereinafter mentioned, the 
minimum charge, based upon the total cost of the work com¬ 
plete is 6 per cent. 

2. The total cost to be interpreted as the cost of all ma- 


486 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


terials and labor necessary to complete the work, plus con¬ 
tractors’ profits and expenses, as such cost would be if all 
materials were new and all labor fully paid, at market prices 
current when the work was ordered. 

3. On alterations to existing buildings it is proper to 
make a higher charge than above indicated. 

4. The architect is entitled to compensation for articles 
purchased under his direction, even though not designed 
by him. 

5. If an operation is conducted under separate contracts, 
rather than under a general contract, it is proper to charge 
a special fee in addition to the charges mentioned elsewhere 
in this schedule. 

6. Where the architect is not otherwise retained, consulta¬ 
tion fees for professional advice are to be paid in proportion 
to the importance of the question involved and services 
rendered. 

7. Where heating, ventilating, mechanical, structural, 
electrical and sanitary problems are of such a nature as to 
require the services of a specialist, the owner is to pay for 
such sendees. Chemical and mechanical tests and surveys, 
when required, are to be paid for by the owner. 

8. Necessary travelling expenses are to be paid by the 
owner. 

9. If, after a definite scheme has been approved, changes 
in drawings, specifications, or other documents are required 
by the owner; or if the architect is put to extra labor or 
expense by the delinquency or insolvency of a contractor, for 
architect shall be paid for such additional services and 
expense. 

10. Payments to the architect are due as his work pro¬ 
gresses, in the following order: Upon completion of the pre¬ 
liminary studies, one-fifth of the entire fee; upon comple¬ 
tion of the specifications and general working drawings (ex- 


PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 487 


elusive of details), two-fifths additional, the remainder being 
due from time to time in proportion to the amount of serv¬ 
ice rendered. Until an actual estimate is received, charges 
are based upon the proposed cost of the work and payments 
received are on account of the entire fee. 

11. In case of abandonment or suspension of the work, 
the basis of settlement is to be as follows: For preliminary 
studies, a fee in accordance with the character and magni¬ 
tude of the work; for preliminary studies, specifications and 
general working drawings (exclusive of details), three-fifths 
of the fee for complete services. 

12. The supervision of an architect means such inspection 
by the architect or his deputy as he finds necessary to ascer¬ 
tain whether the work is being executed in general conform¬ 
ity with his drawings and specifications or directions. On 
operations where a clerk of the works or superintendent of 
construction is required, the architect shall employ such as¬ 
sistants at the owner’s expense. 

Contract Between Owner and Contractor. —There 
are two distinct systems employed for contracting 
the actual work of plant construction. First, the 
competitive stipulated-sum construction contract, or 
the 44 lump-sum” contract as it has long been termed; 
second, the non-competitive cost-plus-fee construction 
contract, or what is usually known as the 4 4 cost 
plus” contract. 

Both systems have their own peculiar advantages 
and disadvantages, but either may be used, in nor¬ 
mal times, with equal satisfaction when the work is 
awarded to that contractor or constructing company 
that lias established a reputation for honesty, ability, 
reliability and experience in and knowledge of work 


488 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


of the type of the particular enterprise in question, 
and that is supported by a well-trained organization 
skilled in and capable of rendering such service. 

Under the lump-sum contract the owner secures the 
benefits of competitive bids and a stipulated price, 
both of which are a great stimulant to the develop¬ 
ment of capable organization and its effort and its 
efficiency in the prosecution of the work. Another 
advantage to the owner is the knowledge of the ulti¬ 
mate cost of the work before it is undertaken; the 
contract price is rarely all inclusive, because of 
changes, ommissions and additions in the plans and 
specifications, but its variance from the ultimate 
should not be marked except for some radical change 
in the extent of the work as authorized by the owner. 

Some contend that under this form of contract the 
interests of the owner and the contractor are diamet¬ 
rically opposed, because the contractor’s profit lies 
between the actual cost of the work and the amount 
of the contract; and that therefore the contractor’s 
aim is to deliver as little as possible both in quality 
of materials and workmanship. They thus accuse 
contractors, generally, as lacking all integrity of pur¬ 
pose and pride in reputation; but this is far wide 
of the facts as everywhere attested by the work of 
capable and reputable contracting organizations. 

The cost-plus contract has been used in many 
forms, but its one most acceptable form is cost plus 
a fixed sum, to cover profit and overhead, plus a 
percentage—say 25 per cent—of the difference be¬ 
tween the lesser ultimate cost and the final estimated 
cost as computed and agreed upon as a working 




PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 489 


basis by the owner, the engineer, and the contractor. 
Such a premium clause affords something of that 
incentive to effort and efficiency compelled by the 
lump-sum contract. It is quite evident, however, 
that no form of this cost-plus contract should be en¬ 
tered into with any organization other than one of 
proven ability and established reputation, with long 
experience in the particular work to be performed 
and well equipped in every way to carry it out with 
a maximum of efficiencv and economy. 

Form of Contract Between Owner and Contractor. 
—The stipulated sum or lump-sum contract is that 
usually employed, and one form of such contract, 
which is a copv of that actually used in a number of 
instances, is presented herewith. This contract form 
is based upon and largely employs the phraseology 
of the “Standard Form of Agreement between Con¬ 
tractor and Owner” as approved by many of the 
National Associations of Contractors' and Builders’ 
Trades and issued by the American Institute of 
Architects from whom they may be purchased. These 
“Standards,” which are much more extended than 
that presented here, include complete and separate 
forms of argeement, general conditions, bond of 
suretyship, form of sub-contract, and letter of accept¬ 
ance of sub-contracts proposal,—the latter two for 
use where all the work is handled through one gen¬ 
eral contractor, as is so often the method employed 
in architectural practice. 

In industrial work, irrespective of the type of con¬ 
tract used, the general contract should include the 
construction of the plant only,—that is, the prepara- 


490 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


tion and final grading of the plant site, the con¬ 
struction of sidings and yard structures, and the con¬ 
struction of all the plant buildings complete. But 
it does not include the plant or building equipments, 
such as heating, lighting, water supply, plumbing and 
drainage, tire protection and sprinkler systems, and 
power and light wiring and installations, and other 
equipment features distinct from the building con¬ 
struction proper. All the work so excepted should 
be let direct by the owner and engineers and under 
separate contracts to those organizations specializ¬ 
ing therein. 


TYPICAL FORM OF CONTRACT. 

this agreement made the_day of - 

in the year Nineteen Hundred and_by and between 

-of__ 

hereinafter called the contractor, and the_ 

Company of_hereinafter called the owner. 

witnesseth, that the Contractor and the Owner for the considera¬ 
tions hereinafter named agree as follows: 

article 1. The Contractor agrees to provide all the materials and 
to perform all the work shown on the Drawings and described in the 
Specif! cat ions entitled,— 

“Labor and Materials for the complete construction of Office, Ma¬ 
chine Shop, Foundry and Other Buildings for the Company”, ns pre¬ 
pared by-Engineers, acting ns, 

and in these Contract Documents entitled the Engineers, and to do 
everything required by the General Conditions of the Contract, the 
Specifications and the Drawings. 

article 2. The Contractor agrees to begin the work under this 

Contract not later than_ _ and that it 

shall be completed not later than__ 

article 3. The Owner agrees to pay the Contractor in current 
funds for the performance of the Contract the sum of ($_) 













PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 491 


-Dollars, subject to 

additions and deductions as provided in the General Conditions of 
the Contract, and to make payments on account thereof as provided 
therein, as follows: 

On or before the tenth of each month Ninety Per cent (90%) of 
the cost of Labor and Materials built in each month as based upon 
the Contractor’s Requisition submitted on the first day of each month, 
and as approved and certified to by the Engineers; final payments to 
be made not later than thirty (30) days after the completion and ac¬ 
ceptance of the work as certified to by the Engineers. 

article 4. The Contractor and the Owner agree that the General 
Conditions of the Contract, the Specifications and the Drawings, to¬ 
gether with this Agreement, form the Contract, and that they are as 
fully a part of the Contract as if hereto attached or herein repeated; 
and that the following is an exact enumeration of the Specifications 
and Drawings: 

Specification No. S. F. A—Dated 

Drawing No. S. F. 1—Survey of Factory Plot, Fig. 199. 

“ “ “ 2—General Layout of Plant, Fig. 200. 

“ “ “ 3—Foundation Plans—All Mfg. Bldgs., Fig. 201. 

“ “ “ 4—First Floor Plans—All Mfg. Bldgs., Fig. 202. 

“ “ “ 5—Second Floor Plans—All Mfg. Bldgs., Fig. 203. 

" “ “ 6—Roof Plans—All Mfg. Bldgs., Fig. 204. 

“ “ “ 7—Sections & Elevations—Main Bldg., Fig. 205. 

“ “ “ 8—Sections & Elevations—Main Bldg., Fig. 200. 

“ “ “ 9—Sections & Elevations—Misc. Bldgs., Fig. 207. 

“ “ “ 10—Cross & Long. Sections—Fdy. Bldg., Fig. 208. 

“ “ “ 11—Fd.—Fir. & Roof Plans—Office Bldg., Fig. 209. 

“ “ “ 12—Sections & Elevations—Office Bldg., Fig. 210. 

The Contractor and the Owner for themselves, their successors, 
executors, administrators and assigns, hereby agree to the full per¬ 
formance of the covenants herein contained. 

in witness whereof they have hereunto set their hands and seals, 
the day and year first above written. 


In Presence of: 


Contractor. 


by: _ (Seal) 

_ O tener. 

by: _ (Seal) 












492 THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE CONTRACT. 

General — 

article 1. The Contrnct Documents consist of the preceding Agree¬ 
ment, the General Conditions of the Contract, and the Drawings and 
Specifications, altogether forming the Contract. 

The Contractor shall he responsible to the Owner for any of his 
acts and omissions and of all of those persons directly or indirectly 
employed by him or by them in connection with the work. 

Written notice as hereinafter referred to shall be deemed to have 
been served if delivered In person to the individual or officer of the 
corporation for whom It Is intended, or if delivered at or mailed to 
the last business address known to him who gives the notice. 

The term “work” of the Contractor includes Labor and Materials 
or both. 

When the words “approved”, “satisfactory”, “equal to”, etc., are 
used, approval, etc., by the Engineers is understood. 

The time limits stated in the Contract Documents are of the es¬ 
sence of the Contract. 

The law of the place of building shall govern the construction of 
this Contract. 

Correlation and Intent of Documents — 

article 2. The Contract Documents shall be signed in duplicate 
by the Owner and Contractor. In case of failure to sign the General 
Conditions, Drawings or Specifications, the Engineers shall identify 
them. Even though the signatures of the Owner and the Contractor 
may have been attested by witnesses they may be proved by any 
competent evidence. 

The Contract Documents are complementary, and what is called for 
by any one shall be as binding as if called for by all. The intention 
of the documents is to include all labor and materials reasonably 
necessary for the proper excut ion of the work. It is not intended, 
however, that materials or work not covered by or properly inferable 
from any heading, branch, class or trade of the specifications shall 
be supplied unless distinctly so noted on the drawings or described 
in words which so applied have a well known technical or trade 
meaning and shall be held to refer to such recognized standards. 

Drawings, Instructions and Samples — 

article 3. The Engineers shall furnish, with reasonable prompt¬ 
ness, any additional instructions, by means of drawings or otherwise, 
which they shall deem necessary for the proper execution of the 
work; and the work shall be executed in conformity therewith. 





PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 493 



FIG. 199. FIRST DRAWING-SURVEY OF FACTORY PLOT 


The Engineers will furnish the Contractor, free of charge, all 
copies of drawings and specifications reasonably necessary for the 
execution of the work, and the Contractor shall keep one copy of all 
Drawings and Specifications on the work, in good order, available to 
the Owners, the Engineers and their representatives. 

All Drawings, Specifications and copies thereof furnished by the 
Engineers are their property and are not to he used on other work 
and, with the exception of the signed Contract set, are to be returned 
to them on request at the completion of the work. 

The Contractor shall submit duplicate copies of all shop or erection 
drawings required for the work to the Engineers for their approval, 
and the Contractor, after making any corrections required, shall fur¬ 
nish such copies as may he needed; the approval of the Engineers 
does not, however, relieve the Contractor from the responsibility of 
the correctness of said drawings. 





























41)4 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



The Contractor shall furnish, for approval, all samples as directed, 
and the work shall be in strict accordance with approved samples. 
Engineers' Status — 

article 4. The Engineers shall have General Supervision and di¬ 
rection of the work. They are the Agent of the Owners and have 
authority to stop the work wherever such stoppage may be necessary 
to assure proper execution of the Contract. 

The Engineers shall, within a reasonable time, make decisions on 
all claims of the Owner or Contractor and on all other matters re¬ 
lating to the execution and progress of the work or the interpreta¬ 
tion of the Contract Documents, and none of the Engineers’ decisions 
are subject to arbitration except as otherwise expressly provided in 
these general conditions or in the Specifications. 

Foremen, Supervision — 

article 5. The Contractor shall keep on the work a competent 
general foreman and any necessary assistants, all satisfactory to the 
Engineers. The general foreman shall not be changed except with the 
consent of the Engineers. The foreman shall represent the Contractor 











































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 495 


in his absence and all directions given to him shall be as binding as 
if given to the Contractor. On written request such directions shall 
be confirmed in writing to the Contractor. 

The Contractor shall give efficient supervision to the work, using 
his best skill and attention. He shall carefully study and compare 
all drawings, specifications and other instructions, and shall at once 
report to the Engineers any error, inconsistency or omission which 
he may discover. 

Materials and Labor — 

article 6 . The Contractor shall provide and pay for all materials, 
labor, water, tools, equipment, light and power necessary for the 
execution of the work. 

All materials shall he new, and both workmanship and materials 
shall be of good quality. The Contractor shall, if required, furnish 
satisfactory evidence as to the kind and quality of materials. 

The Contractor shall not employ on the work any unfit person or 
anyone not skilled in the work assigned to him. 

Inspection of Work — 

article 7. The Owner, the Engineers and their representatives 
shall at all times have access to the work wherever it is in prepara¬ 
tion or progress and the Contractor shall provide proper facilities for 
such access and for inspection. 

If the specifications, the Engineers’ instructions, laws, ordinances, 
or any public authority require any work to be specially tested or 
approved, the Contractor shall give the Engineers timely notice of its 
readiness for inspection and the Engineers shall promptly inspect it. 
If any such work should be covered up without approval or censent, 
it must, if required by the Engineers, be uncovered for examination 
at the Contractor’s expense. 

Correction of Work — 

article 8. The Contractor shall promptly remove from the prem¬ 
ises all materials, whether worked or unworked, and take down and 
remove all portions of the work condemned by the Engineers as fail¬ 
ing to conform to the Contract; and the Contractor shall promptly 
replace and re-execute his own work in accordance with the Contract 
and without expense to the Owner and shall bear the expense of 
making good all work of whatever nature is destroyed or damaged 
by such removal or replacement. 

Responsibility aftci' Final Payment — 

article 9. Neither the final certificate of payment nor any provi¬ 
sion in the contract documents shall relieve the Contractor of re- 


49G 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 





- * 






FIG. 201 . THIRD DRAWING—FOUNDATION PLANS OF ALL MANUFACTURING BUILDINGS 






































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 497 


sponsibility for negligence or faulty materials or workmanship within 
the extent and period provided by law, and upon, written notice he 
shall remedy any defects due thereto and pay for any damage to 
other work resulting therefrom. 

Protection of Work and Property — 

article 10. The Contractor shall continuously maintain adequate 
protection of all his work from damage and shall protect the Own¬ 
er’s and adjacent property from injury arising in connection with this 
Contract. He shall make good any such damage or injury, except 
such as may be directly due to errors in the contract documents. 

In an emergency affecting the safety or life of the structure or of 
adjoining property, not considered by the Contractor as within the 
provisions of Article 17, then the Contractor, without special instruc¬ 
tion or authorization from the Engineers or Owner, is hereby per¬ 
mitted to act, at his discretion, to prevent such threatened loss or 
injury and he shall so act, without appeal, if so instructed or 
authorized. 

Damage to Persons — 

article 11. In addition to the liability imposed by law upon the 
Contractor on account of bodily injury or death suffered through the 
Contractor’s negligence, which liability is not impaired or otherwise 
affected hereby, the Contractor hereby assumes, in cases not em¬ 
braced within such legal liability, the obligation to save the Owner 
harmless and indemnify him from every expense, liability or payment 
(voluntary payments excepted), by reason of any injury to any person 
or persons, including death, suffered through any act or omission of 
the Contractor, or anyone directly or indirectly employed by either 
of them, in the prosecution of any work included in this contract. 
Liability Insurance — 

article 12. The Contractor shall maintain such insurance as will 
protect him from claims under workmen’s compensation acts and 
from any other claims for damages for personal injury, including 
death, which may arise from operations under this Contract. Cer¬ 
tificates of such insurance shall be filed with the Owner, if he so 
require, and shall be subject to his approval for adequacy of protec¬ 
tion. The Owner shall be responsible for his own contingent liability. 

Fire Insurance — 

article 13. The Contractor shall effect and maintain fire insur¬ 
ance upon the entire structure on which the work of this Contract is 
to l>e done and upon all materials, tools, and appliances in or adjacent 
t hereto and intended for use thereon, to at least eighty per cent of 


198 


T11E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


};•.[!! \'^ 

{r.?‘ • 


-. 4 . a 


n in 

I I j 

.]«!!!!! 

*12 ! i 1 


;> 

ii 

II 



iV,, J! ’ { 

'*■••** ♦ • • * i ? Jl jL 

: v : ilf-H f t 

w yt ■ •• - 


tIS 



l 1 *-. jE-X-JiilU j 1 ’! 


FIG. 202. FOURTH DRAWING-FIRST FLOOR PLANS OF ALL MANUFACTURING BUILDINGS 






















































































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 499 


the insurable value thereof. The loss, if any. is to be made adjust¬ 
able with and payable to the Owner as Trustee for whom it may con¬ 
cern. 

Guaranty Bond — 

article 14. The Owner shall have the right to require the Con¬ 
tractor to give bond covering the faithful performance of the Contract 
and the payment of all obligations arising thereunder, in such forms 
as the Owner may prescribe and with such sureties as he may ap¬ 
prove. 

Changes in the Work — 

article 15. The Owner, without invalidating the contract, may 
make changes by altering, adding to or deducting from the work, the 
contract sum being adjusted accordingly. All such work shall be 
executed under the conditions of the original Contract, except that 
any claim for extension of time caused thereby shall be adjusted at 
the time of ordering such change. 

Except as provided in Articles 4 and 10, no change shall be made 
unless in pursuance of a written order from the Owner signed or 
countersigned by the Engineer, and no claim for an addition to the 
contract sum shall be valid unless so ordered. 

The value of any such change shall be determined as being the cost 
of labor and materials used therein plus fifteen per cent (15%), and 
the Contractor shall keep and present in such form as the Engineers 
may direct, a correct account of the net cost of labor and materials, 
together with vouchers. 

Claims for Extras — 

article 10. If the Contractor claims that any instructions, by 
drawings or otherwise, involve extra cost under this Contract, he shall 
give the Engineers written notice thereof, before proceeding to execute 
the work and, in any event, within two weeks of receiving such in¬ 
structions, and the procedure shall then be as provided in Article 15. 
No such claim shall be valid unless so made. 

Applications for Payments — 

article 17. The Contractor shall submit to the Engineers an ap¬ 
plication for each payment and, if required, receipts or vouchers 
showing his payments for materials and labor, and such application 
shall be submitted at least ten (10) days before each payment falls 
due. The Contractor shall, at least ten (10) days before making 
his first application, submit to the Engineers a schedule of values of 
the various parts of the work aggregating the total sum of the Con¬ 
tract, made out in such form and divided as the Engineers may direct 


500 


TI1E FACTORY BUILDINGS 


ItiRrl 
»h{- j 

m 

,! i‘ 



1 

ii! 

! 

y 


3J jf —tT 

.«i-r—t—tr 


i ? ^— ■ ) ~ ~t- ? 

lit*— j-—.) • > ■ .a 




!> 


--fa - • 

k 

— 


FIG. 203. FIFTH DRAWING-SECOND FLOOR PLANS OF ALL MANUFACTURING BUILDINGS 



















































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 501 



FIG. 204. SIXTH DRAWING-ROOF PLANS OF ALL 

MANFACTURING BUILDINGS 


and, if required, support same by evidence as to its correctness. This 
schedule, when approved by the Engineers, may be used as a basis 
for certificates of payment, and in applying for payments the Con¬ 
tractor shall submit a statement based upon this schedule and, if 
required, itemized in such form as the Engineers may direct showing 
his right to the payment claimed. 

Certificates and Payments — 

article 18. If the Contractor has made application as above the 
Engineers shall, not later than the date when each payment falls 
due, issue to the Contractor a certificate for such amount as he de¬ 
cides to be properly due. 

No certificate issued nor payment made to the Contractor, nor par¬ 
tial or entire use or occupancy of the work by the Owner shall be 
an acceptance of any work or materials not in accordance with this 
Contract. The making and acceptance of the final payment shall con¬ 
stitute a waiver of all claims by the Owner, otherwise than under 
Articles 9 and 20 of these conditions or under requirement of the 


























































502 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


spooifixations, nnd of nil claims by the Contractor, oxcopt those pre¬ 
viously made nnd still unsettled. 

Should the Owner fall to pay the sum named In any certificate of 
the Engineers, upon demand when due, the Contractor shall receive, 
in addition to the sum named in the certificate, interest thereon ut 
the legal rate in force at the place of building. 

Payment* Withheld — 

article 19. The Engineers may withhold or, on account of sub¬ 
sequently discovered evidence, nullify the whole or a part of any 
certificate for payment to protect the Owner from loss on account of: 

(a) Defective work not remedied; 

(b) Claims filed or reasonable evidence indicating probable filing 

of claims; 

(c) Failure of the Contractor to make payments properly for mate¬ 

rial or labor; 

(d) A reasonable doubt that the contract can be completed for the 

balance then unpaid. „ 

When all the alnive grounds are removed, certificates shall at once 
be issued for amounts withheld because of them. 

Lien *— 

article 20. Neither the final payment nor any part of the re¬ 
tained percentage shall become due until the Contractor, if required, 
shall deliver to the Owner a complete release of all liens arising out 
of this Contract, or receipts in full in lieu thereof and, if required 
in either case, an affidavit that the releases and receipts include all 
the labor and material for which a lien might be filed; if any lien or 
claim remain unsatisfied after all payments are made, the Contractor 
shall refund to the Owner all moneys that the latter may be com¬ 
pelled to pay in discharging such lien or claim, including all costs 
and a reasonable attorney’s fee. 

Permit* and Reputation *— 

article 21. The Contractor shall obtain and pay for all permits 
and licenses, but not permanent easements, and shall give all notices, 
pay all fees, and comply with all laws, ordinances, rules and regu¬ 
lations bearing on the work. If the drawings and specifications are 
at variance therewith, the Contractor shall notify the Engineers in 
writing before the work is performed and the value of any necessary 
changes shall bo adjusted under Article 15. If any of the Con¬ 
tractor’s work shall be done contrary to such laws, ordinances, rules 
and regulations, without such notice he shall l>ear all costs arising 
therefrom. 



PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 503 



FIG. 205. SEVENTH DRAWING-SECTIONS AND ELEVATION OF 

MAIN BUILDINGS 


Royalties and Payments — 

article 22. The Contractor shall pay all royalties and license 
fees and shall defend all suits or claims whatsoever for infringement 
of any patent rights and shall save the Owner harmless from loss 
on account thereof. 


Use of Premises — 

article 23. The Contractor shall confine his apparatus, the stor¬ 
age of materials and the operations of his workmen to limits indi¬ 
cated by law, ordinances, permits or directions of the Engineers and 
shall not encumber the premises with his materials. 

The Contractor shall not load or permit any part of the structure 
to be loaded with a weight that will endanger its safety. 

The Contractor shall enforce the Engineers instructions regaiding 
signs, advertisements, fire, and smoking. 


Cleaning Up — 

article 24. The Contractor shall at all times keep the premises 
free from accumulations of waste material or rubbish caused by his 
employees or work, and at the completion of the work he shall re¬ 
move all his rubbish from and about the building and all Ins tools, 
scaffolding and surplus materials and shall leave his work clean and 
readv for use. In case of dispute the Owner may remove the rubbish 
and charge the cost to the Contractor as the Engineers shall deter- 

mine to he just. 








































































































504 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 





FIG. 206. EIGHTH DRAWING-SECTIONS AND ELEVATION OF 

MAIN BUILDINGS 

Cutting an/I Patching — 

article 25. The Contractor shall (lo all cutting, fitting, or patching 
of his work that may be required to make its several parts come to¬ 
gether properly and fit it to receive the work shown ui>on, or reason¬ 
ably implied by the drawings and specifications for the completed in¬ 
stallation and he shall make good after such Installation as the 
Engineers may direct. 

Any cost caused by defective or ill-timed work shall be borne by 
the Contractor. 

Delay 8 — 

article 26. If the Contractor is delayed in the completion of the 
work by any act or neglect of the Owner or the Architect, or of any 
employee of either, or by any other Contractor employed by the 
Owner, or by changes ordered in the work, or by strikes, lockouts, fire, 
unavoidable casualties or any causes beyond the Contractor’s control, 
or by any cause which the Engineers shall decide to justify the delay, 
then the time of completion shall be extended for such reasonable 
time as the Engineers may decide. 

No such extension shall be made for delay occurring more than 
seven (7) days before claim therefor is made in writing to the En¬ 
gineers. In the case of continuing cause of delay, only one claim is 
necessary. 

If the Contractor should neglect to prosecute the work proj>erly or 
fail to perform any provision of this contract, the Owner, after three 

















































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 505 

(3) (lays’ written notice to the Contractor, may, without prejudice to 
any other remedy he may have, make good such deficiencies and may 
deduct the cost thereof from the payment then or thereafter due the 
Contractor; provided, however, that the Engineers shall approve both 
such action and the amount charged to the Contractor. 

Right to Terminate Contract — 

article 27. If the Contractor should be adjudged a bankrupt, or 
if he should make a general assignment for the benefit of his 
creditors, or if a receiver shall be appointed on account of his 
insolvency, or if he should, in cases recited in Article 20, persist¬ 
ently or repeatedly refuse or fail to supply enough properly skilled 
workmen or proper materials, or if he should fail to make prompt 
payment to the subcontractors or for material or labor, or persistent¬ 
ly disregard laws, ordinances or the instructions of the Engineers, 
or otherwise be guilty of substantial violations of any provision of 
the Contract:— 

Then the Owner, upon the Certificate of the Engineers that suffi¬ 
cient cause exists to justify such action, may, without prejudice to 
any other right or remedy and after giving the Contractor seven (7) 
days’‘written notice, terminate the employment of the Contractor 
and take possession of the premises and of all materials, tools, and 
appliances thereon and finish the work by whatever method he may 
deem expedient. 

In such case the Contractor shall not be entitled to receive any 
further payment until the work is finished. If the unpaid balance of 
the contract price shall exceed the expense of finishing the work, in¬ 
cluding compensation to the Engineers for their additional services, 
such excess shall be paid to the Contractor. If such expense shall 
exceed such unpaid balance, the Contractor shall pay the difference 
to the Owner. The expense incurred by the Owner as herein pro¬ 
vided, and the damage incurred through the Contractor’s default, 
shall be certified by the Engineers. 

If the work should be stopped under an order of any court, for a 
period of three (3) months, through, no act or fault of the ( on- 
tractor, or of any one employed by him, or if the Owner should fail 
to pay to the Contractor, within ten (101 days of its maturity and 
presentation, any sum certified by the Engineers or awarded by arbi¬ 
trators. then the Contractor may, upon three (3) days’ written notice 
to the Owner and the Engineers, stop work or terminate this contract 
and recover from the Owner payment for all work executed and any 
loss sustained upon any plant or material and reasonable profit and 
damages. 


506 


T1IE FACTORY BUILDINGS 





FIG. 207. NINTH DRAWING-SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS OF MISCELLANEOUS BUILDINGS 






















































































































































































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 507 




T8WIU L 


FIG. 208. TENTH DRAWING—CROSS AND LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS 

OF FOUNDRY BUILDING 

Damages — 

article 28. If either party to this Contract should suffer damage 
or delay or otherwise, because of any act or neglect of the other 
party or of any one employed by him, then he shall be reimbursed 
by the other party for such damage. 

Claims under this clause shall be made in writing to the party 
liable within a reasonable time of the first observance of such damage 
and not later than the time of final payment, except in case of claims 
under Article 0, and shall he adjusted by agreement or arbitration. 

Should the Contractor cause damage to any other person on the 
work, the Contractor agrees, upon due notice, to settle with such 
person by agreement or arbitration, if such person will so settle. If 
such person sues the Owner on account of any damage alleged to 
have been so sustained, the Owner will notify the Contractor, who, 
shall, at his own expense, defend such proceedings, and, if any judg¬ 
ment against the Owner arise therefrom, the Contractor shall pay or 
satisfy it and pay all costs incurred by the Owner. 

The Contractor, if damaged by any person held to the Owner by 
stipulation such as the above, agrees to settle with such person by 
agreement or arbitration and in no case to sue the Owner on account 
of such damage. 

























































































































































































































































508 


TIIE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



pu! fLcai. fi.ooa- 

FIG. 209. ELEVENTH DRAWING-FOUNDATION, FLOOR AND ROOF 

PLANS OF OFFICE BUILDING 


Assignment of Contract — 

article 29. Neither party to the Contract shall assign the Con¬ 
tract without the written consent of the other, nor shall the Con¬ 
tractor assign any moneys due or to become due to him hereunder, 
without the previous written consent of the Owner. 

Arbitration — 

article 30. Subject to the provisions of Article 4, all questions 
in dispute under this contract shall be submitted to arbitration at 
the choice of either party to the dispute. 

The general procedure shall conform to the laws of the State in 
which the work lies, and wherever permitted by law the decision of 
the arbitrators may be filed in court to carry it into effect. 

The demand for arbitration shall be filed in writing with the 








































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 509 



FIG. 210. TWELFTH DRAWING-SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS OF 

OFFICE BUILDING 


Engineers, in the case of an appeal from their decision, within ten 
(10) days of its receipt and in any other case within a reasonable 
time after cause thereof and in no case later than the time of final 
payment, except as to questions under Article 0. If the Engineers 
fail to make a decision within a reasonable time, an appeal to arbitra¬ 
tion may be taken as if his decision had been rendered against the 
party appealing. 

The parties may agree upon one arbitrator; otherwise there shall 
be three, one named in writing by each party and the third chosen 
by these two arbitrators or, if they fail to select a third within ten 
(10) days, he shall be chosen by the presiding officer of the nearest 
Bar Association. Should the party demanding arbitration fail to 
name an arbitrator within ten (10) days of his demand, his right to 
arbitration shall lapse. Should the other party fail to choose an 
arbitrator within such ten (10) days, the Engineers shall appoint 
such arbitrators with any papers or information demanded in writing, 
the arbitrators are empowered by both parties to take exparte pro¬ 
ceedings. 

The arbitrators shall act with promptness. The decision of any 








































































































































































































510 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


two shall bo binding on nil parties to the dispute. The decision of 
the arbitrators upon any question subject to arbitration under this 
contract shall be a condition precedent to any right of legal action. 

The arbitrators, if they deem that the case demands it, are author¬ 
ized to award to the party whose contention is sustained such sums 
as they shall deem proper for the time, expense and trouble incident 
to the appeal, and, if the appeal was taken without reasonable cause, 
damages for delay. The arbitrators shall fix their own compensation, 
unless otherwise provided by agreement and shall assess the costs 
and charges of the arbitrators ui>on either or both parties. 

The award of the arbitrators must bo in writing and, if in writing, 
shall not he open to objection on account of the form of the pro¬ 
ceedings or the award. 


Building Plans and Specifications.—The drawings 

and specifications for any such proposed develop¬ 
ment as the building of an industrial plant should 
be sufficiently complete and definite for the intelli¬ 
gent preparation of detailed bids and the consumma¬ 
tion of the work. After the award of the work they 
should he augmented, as soon as possible, by all the 
detailed sketches, shop fabrication details, and erec¬ 
tion drawings required for the furtherance of the 
work, botli in point of proper execution and the 
hastening of its completion. 

As clearly indicating the character of the draw¬ 
ings required for such a development, those referred 
to in the foregoing “Typical Form of Contract’’ may 
well be used as an example, for these with the specifi¬ 
cations were the working instruments employed for 
the construction of the buildings therein set forth.* 
The plans and specifications were submitted to 
six contracting organizations for competitive bids, 

♦ Copies of these specifications can be obtained, without charge, 
upon request.— Industrial Extension Institute. Inc. 



PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 511 


ample time being allowed for their careful prepara¬ 
tion; all were thoroughly responsible and represen¬ 
tative General Contractors and their bids were sub¬ 
mitted in considerable detail. There was hardly more 
than one per cent variation in the figures of the three 
lower bidders; the variance in the other three ran 
approximately ten, twenty, and thirty per cent in 
excess of the lower bids. 

The work was awarded to one of the lower bidders 
—the lowest bidder, really, considering as well the 
guaranteed time of completion—and it was com¬ 
pleted, according to the contractor’s later statement, 
at a very slightly larger margin of profit than he 
had originally anticipated and calculated. 

These drawings, upon which the detailed speci¬ 
fications were based, are listed in the General Con¬ 
tract and reproduced in Figures 191 to 210 inclusive. 

Building Equipment Plans and Specifications.—The 
essential building equipments, not as a rule included 
in the General Contract, comprise water supply, 
plumbing and drainage, fire protection and sprinkler 
systems, heating systems, and power and light wir¬ 
ing. The necessary plans and specifications should 
be prepared for each of these several systems com¬ 
plete in themselves; and they should contain, in con¬ 
junction with the general plans which should always 
accompany them, all the information required for 
equitable competitive bidding. 

Plumbing Plans and Specifications.—It would, per¬ 
haps, be helpful to use as an example of this work 
the installation made in the Office, Foundry, Machine 
Shop and other buildings embodied in the general 


FIG. 211. PLAN AND SECTIONS SHOWING STORM AND SANITARY SEWERS, ETC. D12 

















































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 513 



FIG. 212. PLAN AND SECTIONS SHOWING WATER AND GAS LINES 


plans and specifications just discussed in the fore¬ 
going pages. 

The Company in question proposed to connect with 
and use the City water supply and service for fire 
protection, drinking supply, and other purposes, but 
intended later to install a pumping station of their 
own on a lot opposite the factory site and near the 
bank of the canal, to obtain all their supply there¬ 
from except the water used for drinking purposes. 
This proposed pumping station was not included in 
this contract nor covered by these specifications,—the 
work embracing only that called for on the factory site. 

They also proposed to install a septic tank on the 






































































































FIG. 213. PLUMBING PLANS 514 







































































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 515 


canal property for the disposal of plant sewage, as 
the plant site was somewhat beyond the city sewer 
mains and at an elevation which made it impossible 
to discharge therein without pumping. Such a septic 
tank, approved by the State Board of Health, and 
discharging its “clear water” effluent into the canal, 
was later installed, but under a separate contract, so 
that the work of installing the plant sewage system 
was, in the first instance, confined to the factory 
site as shown in the plans illustrated in Figures 211, 
212, and 213.* 

Fire Protection Plans and Specifications.—As a 

rule, the best method to follow in installing the fire 
protection system in a plant, is to award the con¬ 
tracts for the “gravity tank” and pump house and 
its equipment, if the latter is required, to those con¬ 
cerns specializing in such work; then to prepare a 
general plot plan, showing the location of the water 
supplies and all underground piping, and detailed 
plans showing the arrangement of the sprinkler sys¬ 
tem and the location of the “heads” throughout the 
several plant buildings. 

These plans, with brief but clear specifications in 
memoranda form, should then be sent to the several 
automatic sprinkler companies with a request for 
their proposals for the work, installed in accordance 
with said plans and specifications, under the rules 
and regulations of the National Board of Fire Under¬ 
writers and subject to the inspection and approval 
of the Engineers in charge and the final written ap- 

* Copies of the specifications can be obtained, without charge, 
upon request.— Industrial Extension Institute, Inc. 



51() 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 




FIG. 215. LOCATION OF SPRINKLER HEADS IN MAIN BUILDING 





































































































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 517 


proval of the “National Board” or its representatives. 

The plans for the fire protection of the plant under 
discussion, which are illustrated in Figures 214 and 215, 
included in the first instance two independent water 
supplies, as recommended by the Factory Mutuals 
Insurance Companies; that is, the city supply and 
an auxiliary pumping station alongside the canal 
opposite the main factory site,—and in addition 
thereto a 25,000-gallon elevated, gravity-feed steel 
tank. This arrangement appeared to the Engineers 
in charge as being much more costly than was re¬ 
quired for the proper and necessary protection of 
the plant, and they requested the Insurance Com¬ 
panies to approve of the omission of the pumping 
station entirely, as they were convinced that the city 
water supply, always constant and under 60 pounds 
pressure, together with a secondary gravity supply in 
an' overhead steel tank of, say, 35,000 gallons capacity 
afforded absolute protection. It was further argued 
that no sprinklers were necessary in the Foundry 
Building as this was of fireproof construction 
throughout. These contentions the Insurance Com¬ 
panies finally agreed to, and the fire protection sys¬ 
tem,—that is, the underground piping, hydrant and 
hose houses and the automatic sprinklers,—was in¬ 
stalled as shown on the drawings and in accord¬ 
ance with the standard form of proposal generally 
used.* 

Heating Plans and Specifications.—The heating 
system installed throughout the several buildings of 

* Copies of this standard proposal can be obtained, without 
charge, upon request.— Industrial Extension Institute, Inc. 



FIG. 216. FLAN AND SECTIONS SHOWING HEATING SYSTEM 518 






















































































































































































PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 519 


the plant under discussion was of the low-pressure, 
vaccum-return type. The company purchased its 
power from the local central station and, having no 
demand for steam for manufacturing purposes, a 
low-pressure, return tubular boiler was installed in 
the Foundry Building. 

The entire system is illustrated in Figure 216 op¬ 
posite. It may be noted that this installation has 
proven entirely satisfactory in every respect; the 
boiler is operated at not more than six or seven 
ounces pressure even in the most severe weather, 
and only six to eight inches of vacuum are required. 
As a rule foundries are somewhat difficult to heat, 
because the air circulation about side wall coils is 
not generally good, and ceiling radiation, because of 
its height, is more or less ineffective; but all the dif¬ 
ficulties were overcome by the use of radiators along 
the side walls and on the central columns as well. 

The column radiators consisted of two series of five 
sections each placed vertically on either side of the 
central steel columns. The inlets were connected by 
expansion-bend joints to the overhead supply line, 
the bottom outlet of each unit was fitted with a 
Houghton 6 ‘therm’’ valve, and the outlets connected 
to one branch lead to the vacuum return line. This 
arrangement and location of the heating units proved 
very effective and the temperature of the foundry, 
is maintained at a comfortable working condition, 
even in the most severe cold weather.* 


* Copies of the specifications, as used for the installation of this 
heating system can he obtained upon request.— Industrial Extension 
Institute, Inc. 



520 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 217. PROPERTY PLAN SHOWING HIGH-TENSION ELECTRIC 

POWER DISTRIBUTION 

Power and Lighting Systems.—Plans and Specifica¬ 
tions.—In the instance of the plant which has been 
used as an illustration so far throughout this chapter 
it happened that the owners preferred to install the 
electric motors and the power and lighting systems 
themselves,—that is, with their own organization,—so 
that no formal plans or specifications were prepared. 
The work was exceedingly simple and it was readily 
carried out by means of diagrams and brief memo¬ 
randa specifications as furnished by the Engineers. 

Instead, therefore, of presenting these simple 
sketches and memoranda, it will be better to con¬ 
sider a somewhat more complex and complete in¬ 
stallation as more clearly indicating the nature of 
















PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 521 


sucli work and as better illustrating the typical plans 
required for this work. 

An excellent example of such work is the installa¬ 
tion recently made at the mills of a large cordage 
company in Ohio. In this particular instance the 
plant comprised three separate mills on the one site, 
as illustrated in Figure 217. These are known as 
Mill No. 1, the Ohio Mill, and the Xenia Mill. 



Each mill was run entirely independently of the 
other two and each was equipped with its own Power 
Plant,—all power being transmitted mechanically, 
that is, by shafting, pulleys and belts. All the power 
plants were of the simple, horizontal engine, non-con¬ 
densing type, very uneconomical for the purpose 
served, and those of the “Ohio” and “Xenia” Mills 
were practically worn out. Mill “No. 1” was a com¬ 
paratively new plant and the power plant equipment 
was in a fairly good condition, so that consideration 
was given to the advisability of installing a low- 
















































































522 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 



FIG. 219. PLAN AND DIAGRAMS SHOWING ELECTRIC POWER 
SYSTEM AND LIGHTING FEEDERS OF XENIA MILL 




















































































^rrc7: - . — 


PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 523 



FIG. 220. PLAN AND .DIAGRAMS SHOWING ELECTRIC POWER 
SYSTEM AND LIGHTING FEEDERS OF OHIO MILL 



























































































































































524 


THE FACTORY BUILDINGS 


pressure turbo-generator therein for the utilization 
of the exhaust steam from these engines for the de¬ 
velopment of electric current for the operation of the 
“Ohio” and “Xenia” Mills with electric motors. 

Consideration of all the pertinent factors, however, 
gave marked evidence that such a scheme could not 
compare in economy or convenience with that offered 
by the purchase of central-station current from the 
Dayton Power and Light Company, with the discard¬ 
ing of all the power plants and the installation of 
electric motors throughout all the mills. 

The owners, therefore, decided to electrify the 
“Ohio” and “Xenia” Mills at once, discarding these 
power plants, but retaining that of Mill “No. 1” for 
another one or two years’ operation. The work then 
covered by the plans and specifications included the 
installation of switchboards, motors, and power wir¬ 
ing and lighting feeders in both the “Ohio” and 
“Xenia” Mills and an entirely new electric lighting 
system in the “Ohio” Mill,—the lighting system in 
the “Xenia” Mill to be revamped by their own 
organization. 

The Dayton Power and Light Company brought 
their lines—33,000-volt, 3-phase, 60-cvcle service—to 
a high-tension meter house constructed by the Owner 
on the mill site; from this house a branch—separately 
metered—was run to each of the two mills, with 
provisions for a later branch to Mill “No. 1.” These 
lines were carried to 33,000—140 volt transformers 
located on steel towers thirty feet from the new 
switch houses which were built centrally of each 
mill. From the transformers feeders were carried 




PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACTS 525 


direct to the switchboards; in each instance a separ¬ 
ate set of feeders was taken from the high-tension 
side of the transformers, through 33,000—115 volt 
single-phase transformers for plant lighting. 

The entire installation, made in exact accordance 
with the plans and specifications,* proved most satis¬ 
factory in every respect, and especially so from the 
standpoint of operating convenience and power costs. 
It may be to the point to note that these installa¬ 
tions made it possible to increase the output of 
binder twine in the 4 ‘Ohio” Mill something over 
seven per cent, and of commercial twine in the 
“Xenia” Mill by sixteen per cent; while power 
operating costs, that is the cost of fuel, labor and 
supplies, were reduced by approximately $18,000 
per year. 

The plans covering the installation of this work,— 
that is the power and light wiring drawings are 
shown in Figures 218 to 220, both inclusive; other 
drawings showing the details of the Meter House, 
the transformer platforms, the Switch Houses and 
the motor supports are omitted. 


* Copies of these specifications can he obtained, without charge, 
upon request.— Industrial Extension Institute, Inc. 








INDEX 


Administration, as a Factor in Sue* 
cessful Manufacture, 5 
Architectural Characteristics of Build¬ 
ings, 257 

Architectural Treatment of Buildings, 
258, 341 

Arrangement of Buildings for Success¬ 
ful Manufacture, 6 
—of Plant, Data for, 59 
Artificial Lighting, 442 
Auxiliary Buildings, “Standard”, 349 
Auxiliary Equipment, Design of, 44 

Bathing Facilities, 468 
Beam and Girder Type of Reinforced 
Concrete Buildings, 329 
Brick Buildings, 272, 275, 276 

—with Timber Columns and Beams, 
276 

Brick and Steel Buildings, 270, 274 
—Construction, Fireproofed, 317 
—Machine Shop, 319 
—Type of Mill Construction, 316 
Brick and Timber Buildings, 272 
Brick-Veneered Concrete Buildings, 
391 

Building Construction for Hat Factory, 
Recommendations for, 221 
—of New Cotton-Gin Plant, 170 
Building Designs for Proposed Hat 
Factory, 202 
Building Details, 399 
Building Equipment Plans and Speci¬ 
fications, 511 

Building Foundations, 400 
Buildings, Architectural Character¬ 
istics of, 257 

—Architectural Treatment of, 258 
—Arrangement of, for Sussessful 
Manufacture, 6 

—Beam and Girder Type of Rein¬ 
forced Concrete, 329 
—Brick, 275, 276 
—Brick and Steel, 270, 274 
—Brick and Timber, 272 


—Brick-Veneered Concrete, 391 
—Brick, with Timber Columns and 
Beams, 276 
—Concrete, 267, 278 
—Development of Modern Type of, 
295 

—Evolution of Modern, 252 
—Factory Office, 353, 355 
—Factory Power Plant, 362 
—Flat-Slab Type of, 333 
—Forge Shop, 294 
—Foundry, 294, 300 
—General Manufacturing Type, 286 
—Harmonious Setting of, 383 
—Illustration of Modern Type of, 
299 

—Importance of Co-operative Ef¬ 
fort in, 259 

—Importance of Proper Design of, 
251 

—Machine and Erecting, 291 
—Machine Shop Type, 286 
—Materials for Construction of, 255 
—Monitor Design, 288 
—Multi-Story Factory, 304 
—One-Story, 264 
—Ornamental Treatment of, 385 
—Reinforced Concrete, Construction 
of, 325, 326 

—Reinforced Concrete Office, 359 
—Saw Tooth Roof, 279, 284, 379 
—Selection of Type of, 263 
—Special, 341 
—Standard Auxiliary, 349 
—Treatment for City Location, 389 
—Treatment for Residential Loca¬ 
tion, 388 

—Types of, 146, 254, 263, 267 
—Views of Representative, 376 

Capital, Place and Availability of, 4 
Chemical Plant of Cloth Treating 
Plant, 113 

—Processing and Delivering, 115 
—Storage and Handling, 115 


528 


INDEX 


City Locations, Treatment of Buildings 

for, 389 

Clock Towers, 395 

Cloth Treating Plant, for Artificial 
Leather, 108 
—Chemical Plant, 113 
—Dyeing Processes, 111 
—Finishing, 113 
—Napping Department, 109 
—Processing Methods and Equip¬ 
ments, 118 

Code of Ethics, Engineering, 479 

Colonial Design for Factory Building, 
387 

Concrete Buildings, 267, 278 
—With Brick Veneering, 391 

Concrete Office Building, Reinforced, 

Construction Features of a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 147 

—of Buildings, Materials for, 255 
—of Reinforced Concrete Buildings, 
325, 326 

Contracts, 475 

—Between Owner and Contractor, 
487 

—Between Owner and Engineer, 
480 

—Typical Form of, 490 

Control of Operations in a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 156 

—Operating, as a Factor in Design 
of Buildings, 55 

Co-operative Effort in Buildings, Im¬ 
portance of, 259 

Cost of Engineering Services, 484 
—Reconstruction of a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 158 

—Reconstruction of a Hat Factory, 
210 

Cotton-Gin Plant, Arrangement of New 
Plant, 162 ^ 

—Construction Features, 147 
—Cost of Reconstruction, 158 
—General Description of Proposed 
Plant, 142 

—Layout Prior to Reconstruction, 
136 

—Proposed New Plant, 141 
—Time Required for Reconstruc¬ 
tion, 159 

—Types of Buildings, 146 

Covering, Roof, 409 

Departments, Requirements of, 46 
—Special Requirements of, as a 
Factor in Plant Layout, 67 


Design of Buildings, Importance of 

Proper, 251 
Details, Building, 399 
Development, Basic Principles of, 17 
—Factors Underlying, 176 
—of Modern Type of Buildings, 295 
Doors, Factory, 422 
Drinking Water, 463 
Dye House, Modern, 341 
Dyeing Processes, Cloth Treating 
Plant, for Textile Leather, 111 

Efficiency of Operators in Successful 
Manufacture, 12 

Efficient Operation, Relation of Plant 
to, 14 

Elevator Shafts, 431 
Emergency Rooms, 470 
Engineering Code of Ethics, 479 
Engineering Services, Cost of, 484, 
Engineering Treatment of Buildings, 
258 

Equipment, Auxiliary Manufacturing, 
as Affecting Building Design, 
42 

—Design of Auxiliary, 44 
—Manufacturing, for Successful 

Manufacture, 8 
Erecting Shops, 291 
Ethics, Engineering Code of, 479 
Extension, Provision for, of a Textile- 
Leather Plant, 132 

Factors as to Specific Location, 62 
—Governing Successful Manufac¬ 
ture, 2 

—in Plant Layout, 24 
—Underlying Development, 176 
Factory, Fruit-Products, Layout of, 88 
—Hat, Development of, 176 
—Lace-Making, Layout of, 77 
—Office Building, 353, 355 
—Small Parts, Layout of, 74 
Factory Doors, 422 
Factory Floors, 405 
Factory Heating, 453 
Factory Lighting, 439 
Factory Sanitation, 463 
Fan Heating System, Indirect, 458 
Fire Protection, 471 

—in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 151 
—Plans and Specifications, 515 
Fire-Proofed Brick and Steel Con* 
struction, 317 

Five-Story Textile Building, 337 
Flat-Slab Type of Building, 333 
Floor Areas in Ideal Hat Factory, 224 


INDEX 


529 


—in Proposed Hat Factory, 204 
—of a Hat Factory, 194 
Floors, Factory, 405 
Forge Shops, 294 
Form of Contracts, 480 

—Between Owner and Contractor, 
489 

—Between Owner and Engineer, 480 
Foundations, Building, 400 
Foundries, 294, 300 
—Layout of, 79, 83 
Fruit Products Plant, Layout of, 88 
—Layout of Power, Steam and Hot 
Water, 94 

—Processing Operations in, 93 
—Routing of Material Through, 91 

General Offices of a Textile-Leather 
Plant, 130 

General-Utility Buildings, 267 

Handling and Routing of Product, 206 
—Systems for Chemical Plant, 115 
Hat Factory, Ideal Plans for, 214 
—Power Requirements in , 245 
—Proposed Development of, 176 
—Routing Diagram of Operations 
in 228, 231, 235 
Heating, Factory, 453 

—in a Cotton-Cin Plant, 150 
—Plans and Specifications, 519 
—Requirements in Plate Shop, 83 
—Systems of, 454 

Heating System, Direct Vacuum-Re¬ 
turn, 457 

—Indirect Fan, 458 
Hospital, 470 

Ideal Plans for a Hat Factory, 214 
Ideal Plant, Developing from the, 20 
Investigation of a Hat Factory, 180 

Lace-Making Plant, Layout of, 77 
Large Power Plant, Typical, 364 
Layout, Definite General Plans of, 71 
—Factors to be Investigated, 24 
—Preliminary Schemes, 70 
—Preliminary Information, 65 
—Statement of Problem of, 21 
Layout of Foundry, 79, 83 

—Foundry, Machine and Plate 
Shop, 83 

—Fruit Products Plant, 88 
—Lace Making Plant, 77 
—Machine Shop, 79, 83 
—Plant, Developing the, 64 
—Power in Fruit Products Plant, 
94 

—Proposed Hat Factory, 200 


—Small Parts Factory, 74 
—Textile-Leather Making Plant, 97 
Leather, Artificial, Layout of Plant, 97 
Lighting Arrangements in a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 150 
—Artificial, 442 
—Factory, 439 
—Natural, 439 

—Plans and Specifications, 520 
—Requirements, 48 
—Systems, 444 
—Units, Types of, 448 
Location, Factors as to Specific, 62 
—of Plant for Successful Manufac¬ 
ture, 6 

Locker Rooms, 464 

Lumber Yard in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 
152 


Machinery, Manufacturing, as Related 
to Buildings, 37 

—Special, as Affecting Building De¬ 
sign, 41 

Machine and Erecting Shops, 291 
Machine Shop, Architectural Treat¬ 
ment of, 380 
—Brick and Steel, 319 
—Layout of, 79, 83 
Machine Shop Type of Buildings, 286 
Manufacture, Relation of, to Profits, 2 
Manufacturing Equipment, Auxiliary, 
as a Factor of Plant Layout, 
42, 67 

—for Successful Manufacture, 8 
Manufacturing Machinery as a Factor 
of Plant Layout, 37, 66 
Manufacturing Plant, Importance of, 
14, 

Manufacturing Processes as a Factor 
in Plant Layout, 32, 66 
Marketability of Product, 3 
Materials and Work, Routing of, in a 
Cotton-Gin Plant, 155 
—for Construction of Buildings, 255 
—Handling, in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 
151 

—Handling Incoming, in a Cotton- 
Gin Plant, 164 

—Routing of, in Foundry, Machine, 
and Plato Shop, 83 

Methods, Effectiveness of Operating, 
for Successful Manufacture, 10 
Mill Construction, Brick and Steel 
Type, 316 

—Disadvantages of Slow-Burning. 
310 


530 


INDEX 


—Slow Burning, 308 
—Standard Type of Slow-Burning. 
311 

—Wide Column Spacing Type of, 
313 

Modern Dye House, 341 
Modern Type of Buildings, Develop¬ 
ment of, 295 
—Evolution of, 252 
—Illustration of. 299 
Monitor Design Building, 288 
Multi-Story Factory Buildings, 304 

Napping Department, Cloth Treating 
Plant, for Textile Leather, 109 
Natural Lighting, 439 

Office Building, Factory, 353, 355 
Offices, General, of a Textile-Leather 
Plant, 130 

One-Story Buildings, 264, 378 
Operating Control as a Factor of Plant 

Layout, 55, 68 

Operating Methods, Effectiveness of, 
in Successful Manufacture, 10 
—of Power Plant in Textile-Leather 
Plant, 126 

Operations as a Factor in Plant Lay¬ 
out, 68 

—Control of, in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 
156 

—Routing Diagram of, in Hat Mak¬ 
ing, 228, 231, 235 

Operators, Efficiency of, in Successful 
Manufacture, 12 

—Relation of, to Design of Build¬ 
ings, 55 

Organization as a Factor in Successful 
Manufacture, 5 

Ornamental Treatment of Buildings, 

385 

Output as a Factor in Plant Layout, 25 

Partitions, Factory, 436 
Paths of Travel in Ideal Plant, 127 
Paving, Yard, in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 
151 

Plans and Specifications, 475 
—Building Equipment, 511 
—Fire Protection, 515 
—Heating. 519 
—Plumbing. 511 
—Power and Lighting. 520 
Plans, Ideal, for a Hat Factory, 214 
Plant Arrangement, Necessary Data 
for, 59 

Plant Development, 176 

—Groundwork of. 19 
Plant Operation, Efficient, Relation of 
Physical Plant to, 14 


Plant Site, Data Relating to, 59 
Plant, Analysis of Relation to Profits, 

2 

—Cloth Treating, for Artificial 

Leather, 108 

—Developing from the Ideal, 20 
—Development of Layout, 64 
—Ideal. Developing from the, 20 
—Importance of the Manufacturing, 
14 

—Lace Making, Layout of, 77 
—Location of, as a Factor in Suc¬ 
cessful Manufacture, 6 
—Water Purifying, 343 
Plate Shop with Foundry and Machine 
Shop, Layout of, 83 
Plumbing Plans and Specifications. 
511 

Preliminary Studies for Textile- 
Leather Plant, 99 
—of Plant Arrangement, 70 
Principles of Development, Basic, 17 
Processes, Manufacturing, as a Factor 
in Plant Layout, 32 
Processing Methods and Equipment in 
Cloth Treating Plant, 118 
Processing Operations in Fruit Prod¬ 
ucts Plant, 93 

—in Textile-Leather Making Plant, 
106 

Product and Output, as ft Factor of 
Plant Layout, 66 
—as a Factor in Plant Layout, 25 
—Cost of, as a Factor in Plant Lay¬ 
out, 27 

—Marketability of, aa a Factor in 
Successful Manufacture, 3 
—Routing and Handling of, 206 
Production as a Factor in Plant Lay¬ 
out, 28 

—of a Hat Factory, 191 
Production Schedules for Layout of 
Textile-Leather Making Plant, 
104 

Profits, Analysis of Relations to Plant. 

2 

Protection, Fire, 471 

Provision for Extension of riant, 132 

Power Equipment in a Hat Factory. 

197 

Power Plans and Specifications, 520 
Power Plant Buildings. 362 
—Equipment in Hat Shop, 246 
—Operating Methods, Textile- 

Leather Plant, 126 
—Typical Large, 364 
—Typical Small, 362 


INDEX 


531 


Power Requirements, 50 

—in Fruit Products Plant, 94 
—in Hat Shop, 208, 245 
—in Plate Shop, 87 
Power Sources and Uses as a Factor 
in Plant Layout, 8 


Recommendations on a Hat Factory 
180, 185 

Reconstruction of Cotton-Gin Plant, 
Cost of, 158 

—of a Cotton-Gin Plant, Time Re¬ 
quired for, 159 

—of a Hat Factory, Cost of, 210 
—Plans of a Cotton-Gin Plant, 141 
—versus New Plant, 176 

Reinforced Concrete Construction, 325 
—Beam and Girder Type, 329 
—Flat-Slab Type, 333 

Reinforced Concrete Office Building, 
359 

Report on Hat Factory, 180 

Requirements of Departments, 46 

Residential Locations, Treatment of 
Buildings for, 388 

Roofs, 409 

Rooms, Emergency, 470 
—Locker, 464 
—Toilet, 466 
—Wash. 464 

Routes of Employees in Ideal Plan*. 
127 

Routing Diagrams, 73 

—of Operations in Hat Making, 228, 
231, 235 

Routing Facilities in Proposed Hat 
Factory, 206 

Routing, Importance of Attention to, 
44 

Routing Materials and Work, in Cot¬ 
ton-Gin Plant, 155 
—in Foundry, Machine, and Plate 
Shop, 83 

—in Fruit Products Plant, 91 

Routing of Work in Progress in a 
Cotton-Gin Plant, 167 
—in Hat Making, 226 


Sanitation, Factory, 463 
Saw Tooth Roof Buildings, 279, 284, 
379 

Schedules, Importance of Detailed, 30 
Selection of Type of Buildings, 263 
Service Facilities in a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 149 

—in Textile-Leather Plant, 129 


Settings of Factory Buildings, 383 
Shafts, Elevator, 431 
Shops, Forge, 294 

Heavy Machine and Erecting, 291 
Shower Baths, 468 
Site of Pant, Data Relating to, 59 
—for a Hat Factory, 185 

Selection of, for Textile-Leather 
Making Plant, 100 
Skylights, 414 

Slow-Burning Mill Construction, 3o>; 

—Disadvantages of, 310 
—Standard Type 0 f, 311 
Small Power Plant, Typical, 362 
Special Buildings, 341 
Specifications for Building Equipment 
511 

—for Fire Protection, 515 
—for Heating, 519 
—for Plumbing, 511 
—for Power &nd Lighting, 520 * 

Stairways, 431 

Standard Auxiliary Buildings, 349 

Type of Slow-Burning Mill Con¬ 
struction, 311 
Station, Transformer, 346 
Steam Layout in Fruit Products Plant 
94 . 

Steam Requirements, 50 
—in a Hat Factory, 208 
Steel and Brick Buildings, 270, 274 
Stock Room Requirements, 49 
Storage Faciities in a Cotton-Gin 
Plant, 152 

Storage System for Chemical Plant, 
115 

Superstructure Walls, 402 
Systems of Heating, 454 
—of Lighting, 444 


Textile Building, Reinforced Concrete, 
337 

Textile-Leather Making Plant, Layout 
of, 97 

—Processing Operations in, 106 
Timber and Brick Buildings, 272 
Time Required for Reconstruction, 159 
Toilet Rooms, 466 
Tool Room Requirements, 49 
Towers, Architectural Treatment 01 *, 
395 

Transformer Station, 346 
Treatment, Architectural, 341 
Treatment of Buildings, City Loca¬ 
tions, 389 

—Residential Location, 3S8 


532 


INDEX 


Types of Buildings, 267 

—Concrete Buildings, 267 
Types of Lighting Units, 448 
Typical Large l’ower Plant, 364 
—Small Power Plant, 362 

Unit System for a Hat Factory, 189 

Vacuum-Return Heating System, Di¬ 
rect, 457 

Ventilating Facilities in a Cotton-Gin 
Plant. 150 

Ventilating Requirements, 44 
Ventilation of Modern Foundries, 298 
Ventilators, 411 
Vibration, Elimination of, 337 


Views of Representative Buildings, 

376 

Walls, Superstructure, 402 
Wash Rooms, 464 
Water, Drinking, 463 
Water Purifying Plant, 343 
Water Supply in a Cotton-Gin Plant, 
151 

Water Towers, Architectural Treat¬ 
ment of, 395 

Wide Column Spacing Type of Mill 

Construction, 313 

Windows, 414 

Work in Process, Routing of, in Hat 

Making, 22 




































